Wildcard
by blugekko
Summary: Set aboard the USS Titan, approximately 1 year into their mission. Assistance to a stricken freighter leads to the crew being drawn into a volatile political situation and an unexpected meeting.
1. Chapter 1

**Wildcard**

_This one's dedicated to my amazingly brave and supportive beta-reader Imzadi; a truer friend no-one could wish to have. Enjoy._

_Takes place a year or so after Will Riker takes command of the USS: Titan_

_Introduction_

_Six months earlier_

The tall human shifted uncomfortably in front of his computer terminal, trying to find a position that hurt less. He grimaced as his thoughts inevitably travelled back to his time spent in the oh-so-tender care of the Cardassians. Bastards, every one of them.

Making an effort to focus on the present, he scanned the information displayed on the monitor. As he studied the screen, he unconsciously stroked his beard, crystal blue eyes absorbing the information contained in his personal messages. He'd just finished a 6-month run on a freighter a few weeks ago, serving in an ops/tact capacity, and was looking for his next job. He wasn't a mercenary for hire, not exactly, but he sold his skills and experience to those with enough latinum to afford him. He'd managed to build quite a reputation for himself in the Beta quadrant over the last three years, slowly at first, but now it allowed him a choice of well-paid jobs instead of the starving deckhand that arrived in the sector just more than six years ago. Hell, maybe he would even schedule another appointment with one of the exclusive medical services to check him over again. They insisted that most of the pain he still felt was purely psychological, and during his most recent visit to one such institute they had informed him that they could only offer him medication. And polluting his body with chemicals to fog his mind did not feature in his plans.

One message in particular intrigued him – it was from a representative of the Kyattan home world, who wished to contract his consultation services with regards to some political unrest and terrorist attacks on their facilities. The faction which wished to contract him represented a minority of the world's population, but were the historical rulers of the planet. The Kyattan home world was being dragged kicking and screaming into an age of equality among its peoples, with the resulting political infighting and scrambling for power and equality, often used as an excuse to avenge past wrongs. One side of his mouth lifted in a humourless grin, he always routed for the underdog these days, but only insofar as it didn't interfere with his wellbeing or monetary gain. However, on Kyattan, the minority faction now feared for the planet's internal security, especially with regards to the negotiations taking place between the different factions. Apparently his reputation had reached the person contacting him, who believed he could provide his expertise to safeguard these negotiations.

He scanned through the other messages again, but for some reason his eyes kept straying back to the Kyattan one. With a sigh he decided to follow his instinct and at least meet with the representative. He pulled up the planet's location and description from the local database, studying it for background information. He also made a mental note to talk to a few traders and suchlike who had contact with Kyattan, to try and determine whether the public face the planet put forward was indeed the same in reality. During his life he'd learned to trust very little on face value, and no person. A little voice inside him gave a cynical laugh – once there had been someone he'd trusted. With his life, his love, and perhaps even his soul. But she was history, ancient history, and that's where she would stay. And him.

His thoughts were jerked back to the present as the door slid open behind him. He shifted to a more alert position on the edge of his seat, ready to drop or run.

"Hey lover, what ya up to?" A Nedjai female sauntered into the room.

"Oh, just checking my messages," he said, relaxing by the tiniest fraction even as he cleared the screen and logged off. It was Lailee's suite after all, and he had been staying with her for the past few weeks since he arrived at the trading station.

"Well, when you're done there, why don't you come over here and let's relax for a bit," Lailee shrugged out of her jacket with her top pair of arms while the second pair, located about halfway down her sides, tapped a final few commands on her personal pad. Her skin was covered in a light grey scale-like substance, but it was smooth and dry to the touch, almost silky, as he'd found out quite quickly. He grinned, knowing full well what she meant by 'relaxing'. The woman had an appetite even he found challenging, but then again, he had a few years worth of relaxing to make up for.

* * *

In the early hours of the following morning he started awake out of a nightmare. Lailee was still sleeping soundly as he quietly slipped out of bed, heading into the next room. Rubbing his tired eyes he breathed deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. His dream had placed him back in that Cardassian hell-hole, one of the snake-bastards leaning over him with one of their hellishly sharp playthings, asking questions he never had any answers for. It's was the third such nightmare in the past two nights, and it was taking its toll. And the dreams were becoming more complicated - _they_ were in the background this time, looking on in what he distinctly felt a disappointed fashion. Sighing, he stretched, trying to relieve cramped muscles as he wondered at the increased occurrence of these dreams again. For some reason he felt his instincts were trying to tell him it was time to move on. He had a comfortable set-up going at the moment, but becoming too relaxed was a weakness that could lead to disaster.

Well then, it seemed it was time to leave again. He would check out the transports first thing tomorrow and head out as quickly as possible. Glancing back at the bedroom, a quick smile played over his features as his thoughts went to Lailee. She was a nice enough person, but he would regret leaving the comfortable living arrangements even more. Women came and went, as did jobs, but you only had one life … no strike that. You had nothing, no guarantees, no happily-ever-afters, just the cold hard reality of now, and whatever else you managed to force out of life.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 1_

_The Present_

Captain Will Riker wandered through the night-time passages of the USS Titan. He wasn't on duty, but his wife was busy with a late counselling session and he seized the opportunity to roam through the ship. It allowed him to see the Titan's diversity from a different perspective – not just as captain in control of a situation or in command of the bridge, but as a fellow traveller on their voyage of exploration. And it gave him the opportunity to get to know the Titan herself better as well. His heart once again swelled with pride as he thought of her sleek lines, her fusion of advanced technology with brute power; and above all – she was his! Well, mostly his, he grinned, admitting that he shared Titan with more than 200 fellow travellers. His late night stroll brought him to the doors of Stellar Cartography, another of his favourite haunts on-board.

Checking the display next to the door, he saw that Melora Pazlar – ship's astrogator – was running a program inside. Not wishing to just burst in, he requested that the door signal his presence just outside.

"Open. Come in Captain," Melora's voice drifted down from a location somewhere above the door entrance. Carefully stepping through the entrance, he manoeuvred easily in the microgravity to see what she was up to.

"Lieutenant, hope I'm not disturbing you," he smiled.

"Of course not Captain." Melora replied, wondering what his reaction would be if she'd said he was. "I'm just busy working through some of the long-range sensor data we've collected during the past few weeks."

"Anything interesting?" Will asked.

"Yes. If you'd care to join me up here, I can show you," Melora offered.

Riker nodded, pushing himself up towards her location. Catching himself on a hand-hold, he focused on the brightly lit star in front of her as she talked, the passion for her work evident in her eyes.

* * *

The next morning he joined his wife for a private breakfast before heading to the bridge. Deanna was sipping on a cup of Betazed herbal tea, Riker opting for coffee instead.

"See anything on your rounds last night?" Deanna asked. Both had been exhausted by the time she'd returned, and had soon been fast asleep.

Riker laughed. "You make me sound like an overzealous doctor checking on his patients."

"And that would be wrong how?" Troi laughed softly after delivering the question with a deadpan expression.

"Touché." Riker admitted with a grin. "I popped into stellar cartography for a while – Melora's all aglow about the recent sensor data – and I don't mean just because she was studying a bright g-star…"

"My, we are full of quips this morning," she smiled over her cup.

"More like sincere joy. We're an exploration vessel, actually doing some exploring!" he waved his cup in emphasis. "I can't remember that we ever spent this much time on the Enterprise actually getting on with our core mission without being interrupted by some or other war, or natural disaster, or something."

"Careful, you might just jinx it with words like that," Deanna quipped.

"Very funny. But seriously Deanna, it's good to be out here, now, doing what we are." Riker smiled, proud of his ship, its crew, and what they were doing.

Deanna just smiled, basking in the joy and satisfaction he broadcasted emotionally. "Well, I'm sure something interesting is bound to turn up soon," she shrugged with a smile.

"Now you're the one who's going to jinx it." He smiled, raising his cup in toast only to be interrupted by a comm signal.

"Bridge to Captain Riker," Christine Vale, XO onboard the Titan, interrupted their morning bliss.

"Riker here," The captain replied, tapping the combadge on his chest.

"We're receiving an emergency transmission from what appears to be a nearby freighter."

"Set course and engage. I'm on my way." Riker stood, checking his uniform for any stray breakfast crumbs. "So much for peace and quiet."

Deanna only nodded in reply, joining her husband as they made their way to the bridge.

* * *

The doors of the Titan's crew lounge opened to admit Dr Xa-Havreii who strode in with a purposeful air and headed over to the table where an admittedly attractive human female was seated enjoying breakfast.

"Uh, oh, he's on the prowl again," Ensign Tasanee's dark eyes followed the chief engineer.

"On the prowl? I was not aware that our chief engineer liked to hunt?" Lonam-Arja said with a slightly worried tone in his voice.

"Oh, you plant-eaters, all the same – one track mind," Bralik snorted, sharp Ferengi teeth exposed in a grin.

"No, not like that," Tasanee waved a hand in dismissal of the thought. "I just mean that he's looking for another, um, social companion?" Admittedly she was relieved that the chief had finally taken her hints to heart, and was not pestering her with his innuendos and improper behaviour any more. A tiny part of her missed the idea of his attentions, but the practical side of her was glad their work environment was less complicated now.

"Ah," K'chak'!'op, or 'Chaka' as she was affectionately known, clicked her pincers in understanding.

"Do you think he's trying to break our captain's record?" Bralik wondered with her usual tact.

"The captain's record?" Lonam-Arja was glad the subject was being changed.

"Yeah, from what I've heard, he's done his best to bed every female between here and the gamma quadrant," Bralik laughed.

"Bralik!" Tasanee didn't know whether to be embarrassed for the sake of their captain or the direction the conversation had taken.

"It seems that males all over the galaxy have that in common – the drive to procreate," Chaka bobbed her body.

Bralik opened her mouth to no doubt make another comment when she was interrupted by numerous comm badges calling personnel to their duty stations.

"Ah, something juicy to sink our teeth into," Chaka commented as they scrambled, unable to resist teasing Lonam-Arja who winced at her carnivore-speech.

* * *

"Report." Riker spoke as soon as the turbolift doors opened. Christine vacated the command chair, delivering a summary of events as she settled into her own chair.

"We received an emergency message from a nearby system. It's from a Kyattan freighter en-route to their home world from a trading mission. Apparently they've suffered some kind of explosion in their engineering section, damaging both propulsion and navigation. At the moment they're drifting near the fifth planet in the system, life support functional but for all other purposes she's dead in the water." Christine delivered her terse report, tucking a strand of black hair behind an ear. "We've tried hailing them, but haven't had a reply yet. I've taken the liberty of setting an intercept course."

Riker nodded, and Christine relaxed, glad he agreed with her decision.

"The transmission we received from them was barely decipherable; it might just be that their communications system was also damaged." Commander Tuvok added, running his fingers over the tactical station as he continued to attempt communication with the stricken freighter.

"What do we know about the Kyattans?" Riker addressed the question to Troi seated to his left who had anticipated the query and accessed the ship's database.

"No first-hand contact with the federation to date. We do have some information from our previous contacts in this sector. They're a feline-like humanoid race, restricted to a few systems close to their home world. Trade seems to be their main industry, and from what we have they appear to be a relatively peaceful race. There is some mention of internal unrest, but nothing specific." Troi quickly found what scarce data was available.

"Entering the system now," Ensign Lavena reported from the conn.

"We're finally getting a response," Tuvok added.

"On-screen," Riker commanded. "This is Captain Riker of the USS Titan. We've received your distress call and are standing by to assist." He kept it short and to the point.

"Blessed moons shine upon our meeting! I am Captain Lyarrn of the Kyattan freighter Rass," the view screen displayed a humanoid that vaguely looked like a cross between human and feline. Captain Lyarrn was wearing a dark grey uniform, sparsely decorated with some insignia visible on his neckline. From what was visible from his exposed neck and head, Kyattans were covered with a fine coating of down hairs – the captain's displaying a mixture of grey and black, with a white patch below his throat. His large yellow eyes were slitted like a Terran feline's, but there were no whiskers in evidence on his sharply pointed jaw and mouth. Triangular cupped ears, again very similar to that of a cat, was located quite high on either side of the Kyattan's skull, their mobility evident as one remained fixed in a forward position while the other flicked sideways every so often, as if a part of the captain's attention was split between the screen before him and other background activity.

Riker thought the captain of the Kyattan vessel did indeed look a bit like a former crewmate named Spot, but a voice inside him cautioned against any assumptions that all things cute and furry were harmless. As Spot herself had proven on many occasions.

"We received your emergency call Captain Lyarrn, and we're standing by to assist in any possible way."

"My thanks captain Riker. We suffered an explosion in our engine section; we're still trying to identify the cause…" The Kyattan captain glanced down consulting a data pad of some sort.

_Not true. Or at least he knows more than he's letting on._ Deanna's voice echoed in his mind. Riker's eyes only flickered in her direction before turning his attention back to the Kyattan captain as he continued.

"Our medical teams are coping with the injured, and the engineers have succeeded in containing the damage. But as you're aware, we're drifting without power, and that gas giant outside is looming dangerously near."

"Mr Tuvok, will their hull strength withstand our tractor beam?" Riker glanced up at his tactical officer.

"Scanning." The Vulcan replied. "Affirmative Captain. But I recommend only a short burst to get them out of immediate danger."

"Agreed." Riker turned back to Capt Lyarrn. "Captain, we're going to tow your ship away from the gas giant, but just enough to safeguard any work on her. After that, if you could provide us with some more detailed information, we'd be happy to provide an engineering team to assist with repairs."

"My eternal thanks captain. That would be greatly appreciated." Lyarrn gave a slow and lazy blink and a short bow.

"You heard the captain, make it so," Riker said. The bridge of the Titan, and no doubt all other involved departments, buzzed with activity over the next few hours as emergency repairs and other assistance took place.

* * *

It was less than an hour later when Riker called a meeting in the observation lounge. The emergency assist teams were about to beam over, and he wanted to touch base with all the departments first. Troi was present on his left side, Tuvok and Ranul Keru on her left, while Christine, Xa-Havreii and Lt. Rager to his right made up the rest of the crew present.

"They're doing a fairly good job over there with the emergency patches," Cdr Xa-Havreii reported, pointing to the holographic image hovering over the centre part of the lounge table. "Our job will basically consist of checking those patches and assisting with getting the most vital systems back up and running as soon as possible. As to the explosion, it was definitely a single point-source explosion located near their primary engine core. Their technology is a good hundred years behind Federation standard, so it should be a relatively simple job to effect the repairs."

"Any clue as to the source of the explosion yet?" Riker queried.

"It appears to be a blockage of one of the coolant tubes, resulting in a build up of pressure and a subsequent violent decompression blast." Dr Havreii tugged at one end of his white moustache.

"I sensed something more from the captain during our first contact," Troi spoke up. "Whether it's just his personal opinion or knowledge based on facts we aren't aware of – that explosion was no accident."

"Sabotage?" Christine frowned.

"Could be," Troi nodded, echoing her comment with an open handed gesture.

"Are any of our people in danger?" Keru asked.

"No, not as a specific target, but if any more 'accidents' were to occur while they're over there…"

"Captain, I suggest we assign at least one security crew-member per three or four emergency team members. We don't need to be obvious about it, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable about sending our people over there." The trill continued after Troi's reply.

"Agreed. Anything else?" Riker opened the table. A few more loose ends were quickly tied up before the meeting broke up. It spoke volumes of the crew's efficiency at how quickly and competently they'd reacted to the emergency.

But then again, Fate had a funny way of stacking the deck just when you thought you had a good hand going.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 2_

"Minister Rrall, I assure you, this was but a random event. By no means should this be taken as any indication that our security has been compromised. It was merely a case of unhappy coincidence." _Marr_ Heiss resisted the urge to twitch one of his ears in irritation at the minister. Any sign of weakness would no doubt be pounced upon in an instant.

"Well. I guess I have no choice but to trust you. See to it that no other 'accidents' like this occur around me or any of our governing members. As matters currently stand, we cannot afford any deviation regarding the peace talks."

"Yes minister Rrall. I will see to it personally."

The minister finally signed off with a last few needless comments, testing Heiss's patience to the utmost.

"Right. I've heard his side, now give me details of what really happened." He turned his frosty yellow glare on his immediate second _Marrell_ Neyall and the off-worlder.

"With all due respect to minister Rrall, it was truly just an accident. A drunken civilian accidentally ploughed his ground car into the minister's transport. We have thoroughly investigated both the civilian and any bystanders, even checking his vehicle for tampering, but in this case it truly is what it seems to be." Neyall was consciously keeping her tail quiet, resisting the urge to swish it from side to side. She was a good foot taller than Heiss, her light ginger colouring and long-limbed build showing her to be of the Yall race. Heiss was of the shorter race of Kyattan humanoids, the _Hass_, a thicker down covering his stocky body. Even now, she wasn't quite sure that Heiss wouldn't call her out and force her to face him in the age-old confrontation of _Assra_.

The off-worlder next to her seemed a picture of calm, although admittedly it was hard to tell due to his lack of tail or bristling fur. Instead his icy blue gaze seemed calm yet focused.

"Regardless of how innocent the driver is, my concern is rather with minister Rrall. However good our protection of him is, we are ineffective if he disregards cautionary measures by going out in public on his own without any due notice to us." The off-worlder spoke.

Heiss shifted his gaze to Kassuq, trying to pin him as effectively with his golden gaze as he had Neyall. But the human didn't even bat an eyelid – admirable. For all that the off-worlder's first name sounded like the mewling of an infant Kyattan, the man had nerve.

"Yes, I have to agree with that." Heiss really disliked how some of the ministers treated their security arrangements, and staff. Often he'd been tempted himself to call them out and give them a few cuffs around the ears. But these days, especially with the major peace talks looming, one had to keep up appearances if nothing else. "However difficult they make life for us though, it is our duty to see to their safety. Double the guards on him until the conference, and tell them to make sure he doesn't even _think_ of going out on his own like that again." No mistress, even as good a looking one as he knew the minister was courting and was on his way to visit when the accident occurred, should be allowed to interfere at this stage. "I want an official report of this on my desk before you leave tonight Neyall. Dismissed." He turned his back on them, looking at the stack of existing documentation that seemed intent on taking over his desk.

"For a moment there I thought he was about to pull out his _dath_, and challenge me to _Assra_ right there and then," Neyall confessed once she and the human Kassuq were safely in her office.

"You would've beaten him, easily," Kassuq half laughed.

"Your confidence in me is admirable, if a bit too generous," she bared her teeth at him in what he'd come to recognize as a Kyattan smile. It would be an interesting battle nonetheless. "I'm sure Heiss keeps his _dath_ at least as sharp as his tongue." She commented, dropping into her chair with a sigh, her tail stretching out behind her in a relaxed fashion.

"Sharper, probably," Kassuq nodded. He'd had a few encounters with the traditional Kyattan fighting knives himself in the past six months, and thus far stood victorious. The _Assra,_ or call to a one-on-one fight, were much less fatal these days than in Kyattan's past. _Assra_ could be called by anyone who felt that they'd been wronged or had a point to prove with more than words. But Kassuq obviously had some military training in his past which he'd put to good use in his first fight, managing to wrest his challenger's _dath_ and use it against its owner to draw first blood. The dispute was settled, and the human given a much warmer welcome after proving himself.

Neyall was glad she'd contacted him and that he'd accepted their commission. His off-world perspective had already worked to their benefit on quite a few occasions in the last few months.

"I'll go and set up the additional security and check in with the other ministers' teams if you'll write the report." Neyall sat up straight, all business again.

"Granted, but only if you'll give me a backrub tonight." Kassuq's eyes glittered with humour.

"Only if you cook again," Neyall countered, grinning again. Kassuq was a very good cook, and she enjoyed tasting most of the foreign foods he prepared for her.

"Deal."

Neyall grabbed a data pad and set off, tail swishing in happy anticipation of a promising evening.

Kassuq's smile vanished as the door closed behind her, a chill light glittering in his eyes now. As lovely a companion as Neyall might be, he didn't trust her as far as he could throw her. He switched on his monitor, querying a few software protocols he'd written specifically to check on those closest to him in the security offices.

* * *

"Of all the unwanted, unneeded…_pleth!_" Vess swore as he paced up and down his office. They had the plan all set and ready to proceed when that drunken son of a furless _hagh_ went and ruined everything! Minister Rrall's mistress was the ideal weak point, and an assassin had been poised to send him and his mistress to their next incarnation at the push of a button. And for what? Nothing. All ruined.

Just then his office door signalled for his attention. Taking a deep breath he composed his features and smoothed his stocky grey tail. "Enter."

"Ah, you're in," Neyall entered, data pad at the ready. "I've just spoken with Heiss – we're going to double the security on Minister Rrall after the little incident of last night. Also, I think we should assign additional security members to all the other ministers. If you could also contact all the team leaders and make sure that they report in before their shift starts for the day's notices?"

"Of course _Marrell_, I will see to it immediately," Vess radiated nothing but competent underling vibrations, eager to do his duty. By rights Neyall's post should be his – he deserved it much more than the upstart youngster.

"Thank you. And good night-time to you Vess," Neyall nodded before moving out of his office and on to her next appointment.

All was not lost then, Vess breathed a sigh of relief. Every time one of his superiors dropped by unannounced his heart jumped into his throat, the fear of discovery an ever present threat. There was a meeting again tonight of all the liberators, a chance to talk with like-minded enlightened individuals like himself, striving for a better Kyattan. He was a committed liberator, and would see this thing through to the end, even if it meant his own. Vess's chest puffed as he thought of Kyattan's glorious future once the corrupt _feyagh_ ministers and their minions were gone.

* * *

The human nowadays known as Kassuq stood on the balcony of Neyall's house, looking out over the quiet valley around him. Neyall's house was located in a quiet suburb far enough away from the centre of the world's capital to offer quiet seclusion after a hard day's work. A few houses were scattered here and there in the valley, nature reserves bordering it on two sides.

It was a summer night, the evening breeze having died down to a quiet rustling of the leaves every now and again. The wind was cool, but not enough to raise goose bumps on his bare torso. He could hear the local nightlife chittering away in the vegetation, the occasional call of some marking their territories. He breathed deeply, inhaling the fresh air and appreciating the momentary peace for what it was – a passing moment of quiet amidst turmoil.

"Lovely," a voice purred behind him.

"The scenery, or supper?" he turned, accepting Neyall into his arms, his hands gently slipping over the ginger down on her upper arms and shoulders.

"Both," Neyall leaned into the caress.

"Well, it seems part of the deal is still outstanding," he hinted.

"Hmmm, I do remember something about a backrub," Neyall gently tugged him towards a low couch-like chair on the balcony. "And let it never be said I don't hold up my end of the bargain." She pushed him down onto the padding before walking around to stand behind him, never breaking contact with him.

At first the nearly furless human had, if not quite repelled, seemed very different from even the many species she'd encountered as a security officer of the capital. But something about him, some raw animal magnetism, had attracted her, and apparently it was mutual.

She began massaging his shoulders, her strong fingers working on the knotted muscles. Kassuq enjoyed the attention, relaxing his body as much as his mind would allow.

"Why so tense?"

"You're kidding right," he smiled briefly. "Are you or are you not the person whom I share a mission, office space…"

"… among other things," Neyall interrupted his sentence for him. "Yes, but I've learnt that you have to allow yourself some personal time to relax, to log off from work; otherwise it will drain the life out of you."

Kassuq shrugged wordlessly. Whether he was expressing the fact that he couldn't, or rather was unwilling to, was unclear.

"Or is it just my skills as massage therapist that needs some improvement?"

"Your skills - massage therapy or otherwise - are just fine." He replied, gently pulling her down onto his lap. "Just blame it on exhaustion if you will."

Neyall nodded, she knew full well of the nights spent with her very few had been uninterrupted by his nightmares. Her fingers idly strolled down his chest, trailing over the outlines of scars. She'd offered him access to their planet's medical services, but he had declined. _They remind me not to repeat past mistakes,_ his vague answer had been.

"Your dreams haunt you by night while memories haunt you by day." Neyall felt genuine concern for the man. She probably knew him better than anyone else on Kyattan, but most of his past was still a firmly closed book. "You know you can talk to me about anything. Or if you'd prefer I could provide you the details of a good counsellor," she ventured.

"A counsellor?" he quirked an eyebrow, giving a humourless laugh. "I knew a good counsellor once… a lifetime ago." He shook his head, forcefully dislodging the path his mind was about to take. "A bunch of overpaid quacks, doing a job only half as well as any other type of therapeutic exercise."

"Oh, like what?" Neyall accepted his change of subject, all too aware of where this was headed.

"Well, they say a demonstration is worth a thousand reports….so why don't I show you," he began nuzzling her neck, eliciting a happy almost-purr from her throat as he worked his way downwards.

She closed her eyes, whispering his true name as she gave in to his advances. "Tom…"

* * *

All traces of Neyall's good mood vanished a few hours into her next workday. An emergency meeting of all the high ranking security officials was called by Heiss as soon as reports filtered in.

"I need answers people, not excuses. How did this happen?" Heiss stabbed a finger at the wall-display listing the events of the past few hours.

Reports had begun streaming in shortly after the start of the workday, detailing the detonation of several explosive devices in or around supposedly 'secure' state buildings. No serious injuries had been sustained, and damage was mostly to the physical structure of the buildings, although a number of employees had suffered from exposure to a gas that had originated from some of the explosive devices. "And not only have they managed to expose our weak underbelly here on Kyattan – three of our freighters failed to report in as scheduled. I don't like what the facts are telling me here, especially not considering the fact that the most important faction peace talks are scheduled to occur less than two weeks from now. At this stage, I'm not even sure our department can guarantee that the sun will rise, never mind the safety of all delegates!"

Neyall studied at her own data pad. How had this happened? Their department, with Kassuq's valuable input, had spent months setting safeguards in place, upgrading personal and location security. And now this? She supposed she should be grateful for small favours – minimal injuries had been sustained at the land-based explosions, and although three of their freighters were not communicating, at least the orbital stations around their world appeared to have been spared.

She glanced around the rest of the team around the table. As expected, most of the _Hass_ Kyattans were nearly spitting with fury, while her _Yall _counterparts handled the situation in a cooler, more controlled fashion, belying the turmoil they no doubt felt as well.

"I suggest we co-ordinate immediate on-site investigations at all the explosion locations, sir." Neyall entered details into her pad as she spoke, forcing her voice to be calm.

"Of course," Heiss nodded curtly, gathering himself. "I'll lead the base co-ordination team. Neyall, you're in charge of investigating the missing space vessels. Vess, you and Kassuq take on the Kyattan explosions. We meet back here in four hours' time, and by then I want explanations as well as suggestions on how to deal with this problem." Heiss nearly sneered at the last word. "Dismissed."

* * *

Vess resisted the urge to glare at his off-world companion as they left for his office. Did the _Marr_ not have enough confidence in him to handle this matter on his own? Or did Heiss not trust him? Vess had proceeded with such caution as to make the evaporation of water sound like a room full of _Larr_-beasts on heat. Still, caution was to be maintained.

Kassuq read the conflict in Vess's posture, putting it down to the fact that the _Hass_ was upset by recent developments. Either that, or the fact that a mere human had been assigned to work with him. Of all the Kyattans he'd dealt with in the security division, Vess was certainly one of those who had been less than ecstatic having to work with an off-worlder. A large portion of the Kyattan population saw their current conflicts as an internal matter, not requiring the assistance of any outside agency, including nosy humans, no matter how good they may prove to be.

Although open conflict between the two races had decreased drastically over the past hundred years or so, some individuals still held on very firmly to the age old mutual hate. From his studies of their history, Kassuq had found that the Kyattan shared both physical and behavioural traits of most humanoids. They were bipedal, upright in posture, and more than willing to treat anyone that did not fit their idea of 'normal' as something less in worth. A classic situation had sprung up between the inhabitants of the world's two major landmasses. The more delicately built _Yall_ had made faster and greater leaps in technological development than the shorter, sturdier _Hass_, using their advantage to control and rule over them, even though the _Hass_ were greater in number than the _Yall_. As the planet progressed into a modern age of space travel, it had also brought the grudging acceptance that the two races had an equal role to play in the planet's future. High ideals and ground-level truths were often hard to reconcile, and the whole process of establishing equality and fairness was a bumpy road to say the least. Good progress had been made however, especially in the last 50 Kyattan years or so, with hope for a better future vested in the success of the current peace talks. There were factions from both sides who were unwilling to lay down the age-old discrimination, holding on to outdated beliefs that would continue to harm Kyattan if it were to continue.

When they reached Vess's office, he gestured for the human to precede him. Kassuq nodded, glad Vess was at least keeping up appearances.

"Let's get to it, shall we?" Kassuq proceeded to outline how he saw their immediate course of action.

* * *

Heiss sat back in his chair as the last report was delivered. Their security division was a lot more informed on what had happened during the last few days, but that didn't mean he was a happy Kyattan.

KEM – the Kyattan Equality Movement – had stepped forward and claimed responsibility for the explosions in Kyattan's capital. They supposedly wanted to demonstrate to the planet how ineffective the corrupt, minority-driven government was. For the life of him, neither Heiss nor any of his staff had been able to figure out how the equality terrorists had managed to place and detonate the explosions. The affected areas had been made as safe as possible by any mortal means – Heiss himself had checked and rechecked the safety measures taken.

He worried at his lip with an ivory canine, his thoughts travelling down a murky path. If their security measures had failed not through lack of preparation and execution…then what had gone wrong? A leak within their organization seemed the only plausible option, and it was not one that sat easily. If they were being betrayed by someone in their group, were they doing it out of loyalty to the terrorists or because of some personal vengeance? And who could he trust to investigate this? Heiss put that thought aside as Neyall gave a polite cough.

"The report on the freighters, yes. Continue." He nodded at her.

Neyall called up a star map, showing the last known positions of the freighters just prior to losing contact with them.

"The so-called KEM's have also announced their responsibility for the three missing freighters, two of whom we still have received no word. We have however heard from the third freighter - the Rass, under Captain Lyarrn." A small holo-ID popped up in the bottom left corner of the display, showing a grizzled _Hass_ male. The section of the map showing the Rass zoomed in, showing the freighter icon in a nearby star system, together with another unfamiliar icon.

"They also suffered a near-catastrophic explosion on-board, but luckily their emergency hail was answered by a starship close enough to render immediate assistance."

"Not one of ours?" Heiss glared at the new icon.

"No – from the data they sent, it is an exploration vessel from the…" Neyall glanced down at her data pad, "United Federation of Planets."

Kassuq stiffened in his chair, his sudden tension quite evident.

Heiss quirked an eyebrow at the off-worlder. "You know them?"

"Yes." And oh, so much more, Kassuq thought to himself. "The United Federation of Planets comprises of approximately 150 member planets, and thousands of colonies. Their influence is primarily in the Alpha Quadrant, although they've also begun expanding their influence in the Beta Quadrant. Their headquarters are based on Earth in the Sol System, Alpha Quadrant – my home world. It was founded more than 200 years ago, and has managed to survive some pretty major wars in the last few decades. The starship your freighter encountered is probably part of Starfleet – a division of the Federation that deals primarily with defence and exploration. I served in Starfleet for a while." Kassuq delivered the information in a neutral voice, clamping down hard on his emotional response to the news. Just when he thought he was safely away from them they came waltzing into his neighbourhood again. Great.

Heiss looked to Neyall, who nodded in confirmation of Kassuq's facts before continuing with her briefing. "They rendered as much on-site assistance as possible, and as we speak they're escorting the freighter back to Kyattan. The ship is called the USS Titan. Do you know it?" The last question was directed at Kassuq.

"No, it must've been commissioned after my time." After the various encounters with groups apparently intent on destroying the Federation, he wouldn't be surprised to find out that quite a few new ships had been commissioned.

"Captain Lyarrn's personal comments confirm that, together with the data package sent by the Federation Ship. He also spoke very highly of the assistance they rendered, complementing the high efficiency with which the crew-members, also noted for the wide range of species, assisted in repairs to his ship."

Heiss nodded at Neyall's not so subtle hint. Apparently the Federation has succeeded in not only engendering cooperation between members of one species, but a multitude of them. Perhaps he could get his government to ask for some pointers once the ship arrived.

"The Titan is commanded by a Captain William Riker, who has also expressed a wish to visit our planet."

Where his heart had previously been beating furiously, Kassuq now felt it freeze in his chest. He missed the rest of Neyall's sentence as his mind focused on the name of the Titan's captain. Of all the captains of all the Starfleet vessels, why in heaven's name did it have to be him!

"You know him? Or at least of him?" Heiss had once again caught Kassuq's reaction.

"Yes." Kassuq paused as he considered his next words. "We were very close once, but our lives took different courses some time ago. He is the poster boy for what a Starfleet captain should be – brave, honourable, a brilliant tactician and gifted diplomat. He represents all the best ideals Starfleet had when they wrote their charter." Kassuq failed to hide his less than ecstatic feelings about the captain.

"But?"

"But nothing, sir. Whatever ill-feelings I have towards him is based solely on personal conflicts. From what I've heard, and seen, he's one of the best out there."

"Lofty words indeed. Then I look forward to meeting the good captain when his ship arrives…?" Heiss turned to Neyall.

"If the freighter can maintain present speed…in two days time." She replied after consulting her data pad again.

"This still doesn't solve the dilemma regarding the other two freighters. What else have you found Neyall?"

The female Kyattan continued her report, and even though Kassuq listened, a part of him was still fuming about what he'd just found out. He wondered how Starfleet had finally managed to pry Will's butt out of the 1st officer's chair on the Enterprise. Short of blowing the ship out from under him – which had already been tried, and failed. And where was Deanna? How in the seven hells of Kyattan was he going to handle it when his genetically identical twin showed up in two days time? He briefly considered staging a disappearing act, but decided against it; primarily because he felt honour-bound to his contract with the Kyattans. Of late his honour had become more important, acting as an anchor in his life.

* * *

Early the next morning Kassuq was summoned to Heiss's office.

"Would you care to explain this?" The _Marr_ twisted his computer screen so that Kassuq could see the image. Heiss's voice contained barely controlled fury, not surprising considering the image was that of Captain William Riker.

"The Captain of the Titan?" Kassuq approached the matter carefully, not willing to give more information that was absolutely required.

"Considering I know next to nothing about your species, I still find it extremely, _extremely_, unlikely that all humans bear such uncanny resemblance to each other." Heiss sneered. "Why did you not tell me he was your litter-mate?!"

"I did not want to broach the matter in the meeting yesterday." Kassuq replied.

"That's not an answer and you know it." Heiss stomped back to his side of the desk. "It's a good thing I studied the Federation files before I passed them to our ministers. Can you imagine when the Captain arrived and found our dignitaries gawking at him like he was a five-legged _Larr_-beast?!" Heiss's anger was still clearly evident in his loud words.

"My apologies, sir," Kassuq admitted, resisting the urge to grind his teeth. He must've seriously collected bad karma by the freighter load to end up in a situation like this.

Heiss sat down in his chair with a huff, studying the off-worlder before him. The resemblance between him and the photo-id was uncanny. Oh, there were a few minor differences – the human standing in front of his desk was thinner, more strung-out looking than the one in the image.

"Are you going to tell them I'm here?" Kassuq finally broke the silence.

"You would prefer me not to?" It was more of a statement than a question, and an issue that Heiss had already spent some time considering. "However good you think you are, you are but a consultant to the state security division of the Kyattan government – a large organization with numerous other employees. I don't think the minister will introduce the diplomatic visitors to everyone around here, and I don't see any reason to advertise your presence. So no, I won't make it apparent; but I won't hide it either."

"Understood."

"I might have some more questions for you later on the Federation. But for now, dismissed."

Heiss watched as Kassuq left his office. The reasons he'd just mentioned weren't the only ones for not making Kassuq's presence apparent to their visitors. Kassuq was a valuable resource, having intimate knowledge of the Federation and how they operated – knowledge that diplomatic briefings as the one he was studying never mentioned. It was always wise to meet strangers with a hidden _yith_ up one's sleeve.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 3_

"Captain, if I could speak to you in private?" Christine requested as the meeting in the observation lounge finished.

"Of course." Riker nodded, having a good idea as to what this was about. Troi quickly suppressed a smile, she also suspected that the first officer was about to take the captain to task for placing himself on the away team. At least she had the tact to scream at him in private, instead of on the bridge, although Riker was under no illusion that his top command staff was probably well aware of the topic matter.

"Why?" Christine perched on the edge of the table as Riker leaned his arms on the back of his chair, stretching out after a long planning session. They'd arrived at the Kyattan home world a few hours ago, and after an initial greeting had accepted an invitation for an away team to beam down to the planet later that day. The Titan was currently in standard orbit around the planet, Riker having politely refused the Kyattan ruler's offer to dock at one of the orbiting platforms. For now he preferred to keep his ship mobile, just in case of any other Kyattan accidents.

"Why what?" Riker widened his blue eyes innocently at his XO. Her manner might be a bit too informal for most other captains' likings, but it suited his own style.

"Why do you constantly insist in breaking the rules you made in the first place?"

A brief smile flashed across his face before he replied. "My leading the away team to Kyattan I assume?"

"Yes, sir."

"Commander, this is a peaceful world to which I have been invited by the ruling government. It's not like I'm going naked into a Targ-wrestling competition – although admittedly we don't know what their local customs are…" He grinned; disappointed to see his attempt at humour fall flat.

Christine continued to fix him with her icy stare. "May I remind the captain that a freighter of this so-called peaceful planet was recently the victim of a terrorist attack?"

"An _assumed_ terrorist attack." Riker straightened up as the conversation became more serious, his hands still loosely resting on the chair back.

"You know what they say about assumptions, captain. And I trust our chief engineer's report a whole lot more than the say-so of that freighter captain."

"Granted." Riker smoothed his beard with one hand as he contemplated her argument. "But, this is still a diplomatic meet and greet, and as such I cannot in good conscience slide this duty off onto any other, equally capable, officers."

"Then at least add some more security members to your team." Vale suggested.

"It's a tour and dinner invitation Christine, not an invasion," he drawled, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"Whatever your plans may be down there, I am still responsible for your safety, Captain." Christine used the formal approach to impress the gravity of her convictions.

Riker glanced out the observation windows as he considered her words.

"Very well, I'll take two more security personnel on my team."

Christine took a deep breath, nodding in acceptance. "May I suggest Lieutenants Rriarr and Pava."

"A Caitian and an Andorian - interesting choices," Riker mused. The Caitian was also a feline humanoid, while Andorians were known as a militaristic but honourable warrior race.

"Not only are they both excellent security officers, but their backgrounds also make them good choices for first contact with the Kyattans." Christine explained

"No doubt. Well, if there's nothing else, I guess I'd better go and get my diplomatic finery out for tomorrow." Riker smiled.

"That's all I can think of for now, but keep your communicator handy – just in case." Christine smiled as well. "I'll inform the planet on our final number of visitors."

* * *

"Still in one piece I see," Deanna greeted her husband as he entered their quarters a while later.

"Just barely," he grinned, pulling her close for a quick kiss.

"I thought we could discuss the plan for tomorrow. We are supposed to be getting ready for an away mission, you know" she replied as she pulled back.

"Who says that's not what I'm doing," his grin widened.

Deanna laughed softly as she pushed him away. "So, are we taking half the Titan's security staff or did you manage to talk Christine out of it?"

"Only partly. My team will be taking along two extra security personnel, and if I know Christine, she's going to maintain a lock on our signals throughout the visit." Before Christine had cornered her captain at the meeting, it had already been decided that each away team would at least have one security member.

"She reminds me of a certain other promising first officer who also threw tantrums every time his captain wanted to beam down to a planet."

"I'm sure I have no idea who you're talking about," Will chuckled as he moved into the private section of their rooms, opening his closet to retrieve his off duty clothes. "Besides, tantrums aren't my style."

* * *

The Kyattan sun had cleared the mountains surrounding the capital by a good few finger-widths when the away team from the Titan beamed down. They arrived at the well-lit central hall of the main government complex where the official welcoming committee waited.

Marrell Heiss had just finished a final check of all security personnel before the twinkling beams of light announced the arrival of their visitors. His whole staff was on high alert, as the gathering of so many important officials would be a prime target for a terrorist attack. Kassuq was tucked away safely in his office, monitoring the proceedings on the security frequency no doubt.

"Blessed moons shine upon our meeting," _Prorr_ Mrraw stepped forward once the visitors had materialized fully. "And welcome to Kyattan. I am _prorr_ Mrraw, leader of our world's government. May I also introduce my two deputy _prorrii_ Ssarr and Vaill," he indicated a grey-furred individual like himself before turning to the second person who was a lighter, orange and white colour.

"Greetings from the United Federation of Planets," Riker stepped forward as well, holding his hands open in the sign of greeting. "I am Captain Riker of the USS Titan. May I introduce my second officer Commander Tuvok, and our diplomatic officer Commander Troi." Riker took his cue from the president and only introduced his top two staff members at first.

"Welcome to them, as well as the other members of your esteemed ship," Mrraw nodded in their direction. "Would you care for some refreshments before we start our tours?"

"Thank you, _prorr _Mrraw. We may take you up on the offer later, but for now I think my people would rather prefer to get to know your world better." The captain replied.

"Ah, curiosity – a universally shared quality I think." Mrraw smiled. Turning to his retinue he indicated the personnel who would lead the collection of away teams to their various locations. Troi would stay with the captain, while Tuvok and the rest would splinter into smaller groups to visit a selection of the planet's scientific, education, agricultural and other facilities.

"If you would be so kind as to follow me, I look forward to learning more about this United Federation of Planets." Mrraw gestured after all the teams had been assigned.

"As we look forward to learning more about your world and its people, _prorr_," Riker smiled. Especially about the explosion aboard your freighter, and those here on the planet, he added to himself.

As soon as the Titan had arrived in orbit it had tapped into the planet's news-nets. Christine had nearly gone ballistic when she saw the reports on the local terrorist attacks. It had taken some serious convincing to persuade her that it was still his duty to lead the away team. In the end she had reluctantly agreed with him, but Riker had a suspicion that she had lectured his security detail and probably extracted a blood-oath that they would return with the captain in one piece or not at all.

* * *

Tom was indeed monitoring the progress of the Titan's away team. A small part of him he hadn't known was still alive had been pleasantly surprised to see Deanna's name on the manifest. She was still listed as Deanna Troi, not Riker, but Tom had some strong suspicions regarding their presence together on the Titan. He felt strangely torn regarding that fact. A part of him felt happy that Will and Deana were together, while another small part of him, hidden away in the dark recesses of what might still be called his soul, had hoped for that fairytale ending with a happily ever after for him and Deanna. But when he saw their names together on the ship's roster, that hope had been dealt its final deathblow. Well, at least one of him got the girl. Pushing aside any regrets he might feel, he let his thoughts wander down another track.

If he remembered correctly, Betazed custom required the husband to take his wife's surname – although for the life of him he couldn't imagine 'Captain William Troi'. It just didn't have the same ring to it.

Giving a humourless smirk at his speculations, Tom turned his attention to the explosion reports he had been sifting through earlier. Something about the explosions bothered him. Those that occurred on the planet caused little or no collateral damage, while to all appearances the attacks on the freighters were intended to destroy them, crew included. He pondered this strange duality when someone knocked on his office door.

"Kassuq, sir? You wanted to see me?" A young Kyattan entered his office.

"Ah, officer Nivv, come in," Kassuq gestured for the young Kyattan to seat himself at his desk. As part of their investigation into the Kyattan explosions he and Vess had interviewed all the security personnel who had been stationed at or near the sites. Officer Nivv had been quite close to the explosion at the minister of education's offices, and had been laid up in a medical facility with a concussion for the past few days.

"I see the medical staff have finally let you out," Kassuq smiled in a comforting manner.

"Yes sir, although they could've discharged me days ago already." Nivv answered, nodding.

"Isn't that always the case," Kassuq agreed. "If you're up to it, I'd like to ask you a few questions about the explosion."

"Yes, sir. I already sent in my written report." Nivv looked for Kassuq's confirming nod before continuing. "But I'm happy to answer any questions you might have."

"Good, thanks. Your report is very thorough, but I find it helps me to get things clearer in my mind if I speak to an actual witness." Kassuq paused, picking up a printout of Nivv's report. He and Vess had already been through countless other such reports, but it was part of the procedure to interview the authors as well. At the moment Vess was out escorting one of the Titan's away teams along with Neyall and Heiss, leaving Kassuq to carry on with the office work.

"Tell me whatever you remember, starting at the time you arrived at your post." Kassuq held a data pad ready, just in case he wanted to make a note of something.

"Well, it started off as any other day, sir. I arrived at my post a bit early – I like to have a chat with the officer on duty before me just to touch base." He looked at Kassuq again, waiting for another nod before continuing. "We talked for a few moments, but nothing noteworthy had happened during his shift. He asked if I could sign in a few minutes early, as he had an errand to run before reporting for a doctor's appointment in town."

"Did he say what errand?" Kassuq tapped a few notes. He wanted to check whether the guard had in fact had an appointment in town.

"Yes, sir. He was coming to this office sir, to drop off a data pad for r_elli_ Vess."

"A data pad for Vess?" Kassuq asked. "When had Vess left a data pad at the minister's offices?"

"He hadn't left it at the offices, sir, not as such. Officer Fiall said that _relli_ Vess had dropped by a few hours earlier on a surprise inspection."

It must've been a surprise inspection indeed, Kassuq frowned. In fact, he was pretty darn sure Vess had never mentioned his little visit. It might be nothing, but a part of his mind found that fact more than a little disturbing.

"What happened after you signed in?"

Nivv relayed the rest of his day up to the explosion, during which he was knocked unconscious and woke up in hospital the day after.

* * *

Kassuq spent the next few hours going through the gathered reports, contacting the security guards who'd been on duty before and during the explosions. What he did find was very interesting indeed. At several of the sites where explosions had occurred, a relatively highly placed security official had been on a surprise inspection a few hours before. Even more interesting was the fact that all these officers were _Hass_, not _Yall._

Turning to his desktop monitor, he checked on the location of all the highly placed government officials involved with the visiting Titan groups. The groups were still pretty much spread out, although here and there a Titan delegation had already returned to the starship in preparation for the evening's formal dinner.

Such an event would concentrate a large number of ministers and other important government officials in one location, offering the perfect set-up for another terrorist attack. Kassuq immediately contacted Heiss and Neyall, advising them to check in with him as soon as possible. They had to be alerted to a potential attack without letting the terrorists in on the fact that they might've just had a breakthrough.

* * *

Heiss responded to the bad news with his typical blustering show of gratitude.

"Well, what are you two still sitting around here for! I want to know everything there ever was to know about Vess and his potential fellow terrorist buddies. I want to know how they're involved – get me everything from their mother's birthing assistant right through to the person who served them dinner last night. Meanwhile I'll go and talk to the _prorr._ Not that I think he would cancel this evening's event, but I can try."

Heiss was actually a lot more worried than he let on. Security was his responsibility, and things were not looking good. The fact that the terrorists had people inside his supposedly secure organization was a major failing in his eyes, and he blamed himself for allowing it to happen.

"Neyall, before you run off, a moment." He called out as Neyall and Kassuq reached the door.

"Of course sir," Neyall returned to stand before his desk as Kassuq left.

"How well do you trust Kassuq?" There was no playing around as he went for the kill.

"Probably better than most, sir. But he is from off-world, and refuses to be drawn out on much of his personal history."

Heiss nodded. He had thoroughly investigated Kassuq's available background before adding his approval to Kassuq's contract. There'd been virtually no personal information, but whatever jobs he'd taken on since his arrival in the Beta Quadrant had been completed in a professional, if cold, manner. "I want you to double check all the information he's found so far – but do it subtly. And see if you can access the Federation starship's database – I want you to find out everything you can about this ex-Starfleet human. He may not have been in league with the terrorists before he came to Kyattan, but if what he says about Vess is true… One bad judge of character on our part may indicate the presence of another – and some people's loyalty can be bought."

"Yes, sir." Neyall nodded, her face betraying no emotion. Although she was physically intimate with the human, he was still almost as much a mystery to her as the day he arrived.

"Dismissed." Heiss turned his attention to the worrying facts that was laid out before him.

* * *

"Who are you?" Neyall demanded, her back ramrod straight as she confronted her lover and co-worker. She and Heiss had just walked into Kassuq's office, making sure the door was secure behind them – two guards stationed outside just out of sight.

"Excuse me?" Kassuq pushed his chair back, heart-beat quickening as every instinct screamed at him that he was in a very precarious situation.

"Or should we rather ask what you are?" Heiss spoke, pinning Kassuq with a stony glare.

"I'm afraid I still don't understand," Tom decided to play dumb, even though Heiss's question had awoken an icy suspicion in his gut.

"A genetically identical copy of Captain Riker? Created during a transporter glitch on some planet back in Federation space? Or do you prefer traitor, spy, or convict?" Heiss kept his physical distance, but his words bored into Tom's being.

Heiss wasn't done yet. "How can we trust anything you've told us? Up to and including your suspicions that a terrorist attack might be planned for this evening's state dinner? Who's to say you aren't one of the conspirators involved with the KEM's? Your loyalty seems to be a commodity you trade along with your other skills." Heiss's tail-tip twitched angrily on the floor behind him.

"I have had no dealings with any terrorists on this planet," Tom spat out, anger spilling over at the accusations. "And whatever's in my past is just that – history. Ask any of my previous employers out here; I've always delivered everything I ever promised."

"In exchange for payment! A Kyattan can never change his fur-colour; and once a terrorist, always a terrorist." Heiss growled at Kassuq, or Thomas, or whoever the man in front of him was.

Tom shook his head, cold fury taking over. "How am I supposed to convince you of the truth of my words if you don't believe me or the evidence at hand? Surely actions speak louder than words – have I not proven myself to you, to the Kyattan government?"

"What if all that 'proof' isn't merely an elaborate act to get into our security inner circle?" Neyall spoke, her voice equally cold.

Tom stared at her, bitter frustration evident in his voice when he spoke next, each word dropping like a leaden weight. "What do you want me to say?"

"Tell us who your contacts are within the terrorist organization. Tell us where they will strike next." Heiss demanded.

"I don't have any contacts with any terrorist organization here on Kyattan or anywhere else in the Beta Quadrant! And dammit, I only have suspicions as to where they'll strike next, same as you." His anger flared again.

"Like tonight's banquet maybe?"

"Now if I were a terrorist, why in hell would I have alerted you to the possibility?" Tom was still desperately trying to prove his innocence.

"Who knows – perhaps you are so confident in your methods that you're willing to take a risk. Perhaps you want to take out our top security personnel as well. This would be the perfect opportunity while they're running around trying to find whatever devices you've no doubt already planted."

"You're barking up the wrong tree Heiss! You should be asking Vess these questions, not me!" He hit the desk with the flat of his one palm to emphasize his point.

"Vess is already in custody – and it's only a matter of time before we get him to talk." Neyall spoke. "We thought we'd offer you the chance to confess before we start formal questioning."

Having studied their police procedures, Tom was all too familiar with their 'questioning' methodology, and there was no way in hell they were going to use it on him. Common sense gave way to old fears, and giving a wordless yell he threw his chair at Heiss and Neyall, dodging past them and barrelled out his office door. Unfortunately this led him straight into the arms of the security personnel. They had been put on alert for just such an event and responded in kind.

After a few moments of intense struggling, they managed to subdue Kassuq with difficulty, finally resorting to their hand-held shock prods to succeed.

The human collapsed, muscles turning to jelly as the shock prod's energy coursed through his body and he briefly clung to consciousness. The part of Tom's mind that was still aware found itself torn between his present location and his time back in Cardassian prison, all rational thought fleeing before he mercifully succumbed to unconsciousness.

"Secure him and put him in the ground-transport. Maybe being at the potential explosion site will force some answers out of him," Heiss ordered the guards, watching as they dragged the unconscious Kassuq off.

"Do you want to risk it, sir?" Neyall asked.

"Yes." Heiss gave a sharp nod, still frowning. "Somehow I don't think he's the martyr type. Either he will tell us what we want to know, or lead us to the answer, one way or another."

No-one mentioned the possibility that Tom might actually be innocent. It was a case of secure all dangers now and apologize later. Certainly his behaviour had given them no reason to believe in his innocence.

Tapping his communication device, Heiss contacted one of the security members already at the venue for that evening's state dinner. "Any sign of Vess yet?"

"None sir, but we are keeping our eyes open."

Heiss needlessly urged the guard to remain vigilant before signing off. Vess had been with the Titan group that visited the education centres around the capital – ironic considering his role in the recent attack on their offices. The Titan party had returned to the ship a while ago, and Vess had disappeared. He was due to be at the banquet that evening; although in which capacity was of great concern to Heiss – terrorist or innocent?


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 4_

"So….let me get this straight, _Marr_ Heiss," _prorr _Mrraw idly tapped a finger on his office desk. What he had thought would be a quick check-in with his own office had turned into a very serious and lengthy meeting when he'd found Heiss waiting for him. A day that had so far been quite pleasant, including a meeting with the Federation Starship's captain and diplomatic officer, had just taken a decided turn for the worst.

"You now suspect that the terrorists were able to penetrate your security network, and have one or more of their operatives feed them information that allowed them to detonate those explosives. And the person who made this breakthrough is now in your custody, having been …well, arrested I guess is the wrong word, since his guilt still has to be proven. Shall we say he is now in 'protective custody' while you are trying to find the actual conspirators who are still managing to elude you at this stage. All of this you tell me because there _might_ be an attack at the banquet tonight – you have absolutely no hard evidence, confessions of conspirators or any such like."

Heiss winced inwardly as Mrraw spelled things out like that – somehow it sounded even worse than when he'd prepared his report.

"_Prorr_, with all due respect, we cannot ignore the potential danger of allowing yourself and all the other government members to congregate in one location. Also, I would shudder to think of the diplomatic repercussions and response of the United Federation of Planets if their starship's crew came to any harm." Desperate times called for desperate trump cards.

"Every breath we draw is a risk, _Marr_, as I'm sure the officers on board that vessel know. Remember, they escorted our freighter back; they are aware that we are not quite the happy family we pretend to be." Mrraw steepled his fingers as he pondered the way forward.

"The banquet will take place. Double or triple the security if you want, you can even taste my food if it comes to it, but I will not give in and cower before these malcontents. You are, no doubt, busy checking the banquet area for any suspicious devices or persons?"

"Yes, sir. So far our sweeps have turned up nothing." Heiss hated to admit that.

"Well, then I expect to see you there in an hour's time in your newly pressed uniform. I have the utmost confidence in your ability to ensure that this banquet will progress as planned. Dismissed."

"Of course, sir." Heiss resisted the urge to disembowel anything that came within range of his fists as he left. The _prorr_ was right, mostly, but it still didn't make him feel any better.

* * *

The banquet was in full swing and halfway through the second course when Deanna began feeling an unusual tickle at the back of her mind. She was seated between the minister of culture and one of the _prorr_'s diplomatic aides, enjoying an animated discussion on the experiences of encountering different species from both Kyattan and Starfleet perspectives. Lt Rriarr was seated two spaces down the table from her, his political knowledge and insightful comments making his other role as her 'bodyguard' for the evening a little less obvious. Lt. Zurin Dakal was seated diagonally opposite her, also involved in an animated discussion, but this one involving Kyattan politics. The rest of the Starfleet personnel were staggered with their Kyattan counterparts along the impressively long and beautifully carved table, it's gently arched crescent-shape filling a large portion of the hall. The table and the hall were decorated in simple yet elegant fashion, the bright colours of the curtains and drapes complementing the cheerful _meyasii_ flowers arranged between the dinnerware. The delicately scented flowers she'd learnt was a symbol of hope and joy, often given or displayed at formal occasions or initial meetings between potential allies. According to the Kyattan agricultural attaché with which she'd briefly met earlier that day, the scent of the flowers were also known to have a calming effect. He'd also added that in great enough quantity or distilled format, the flowers also had another effect – besides visual aesthetics and a pleasing aroma, it also possessed the ability to induce a mild state of euphoria. Its effects reminded her of catnip, and she quickly had to smother a laugh as she pictured the Kyattans rolling in fields of the _meyasii_ flower. Considering that just prior to the thought she'd inhaled the flower's sweet scent deeply, perhaps it had a similar effect on other humanoids?

The persistent tingle at the edge of her empathic senses persisted though, and she drew her eyes away from the delicate blossoms to look at her husband, wondering if she was picking up on his heightened emotional state. Before they had beamed down to the planet for the dinner, they'd spent some time going over the initial reports of all the away teams that had visited Kyattan earlier. The terrorist attacks had been one of the main highlights, an unfortunate item that managed to stand out between all the accomplishments of the Kyattan people.

Commander Vale had once again voiced her reservations about their attendance of the banquet, but Riker had overruled her. Not that he intended to blindly lead his team into a potentially dangerous situation either – precautions had been taken, including a detailed scan of the buildings where the reception was to be held by the Titan's superior sensors. They had turned up nothing, but Christine would no doubt hover on the bridge until the Captain and his team returned safely, if a little stuffed.

Still, her uneasy feeling persisted and she inconspicuously focused on tracking down its origin. For some reason the feeling reminded her of Will. She could elicit no more than that, and finally gave in and contacted her husband. _Is everything all right?_

_Just fine, thank you. Although I did have a close call with an innocent looking vegetable – it was a lot spicier than it looked._ Will joked while continuing to listen to the minister next to him as though he couldn't bear to miss a word.

He paused to take a sip of water, using it as an excuse to glance at her. A quirk of his eyebrow and a tilt of his chin indicated that he was expecting her to explain why she'd asked him.

_Just an odd feeling._

_Threatening_? Riker let his eyes drift over to where his own 'bodyguard', the Andorian Lieutenant Pava sh'Aqabaa sat nearby. Both their bodyguards were wearing tiny earpieces, allowing them to be in constant contact with the Titan, alert to any signs of danger. Lt sh'Aqabaa seemed unconcerned however, enjoying a chat with one of the Kyattan security branch personnel. However, Riker trusted Troi's feelings; if she thought something was out of sorts, he'd better pay attention.

When Troi didn't respond in the negative immediately, he let his eyes drift towards her again.

_Not as such. I can't pinpoint it exactly – it's a fuzzy feeling of apprehension, frustration. Almost like a sense of waiting for something to happen. It's almost like hearing a few off-pitch notes in the middle of an orchestral performance; it sounds wrong, but you can't tell who or why. It might just be something I'm picking up from our hosts._

Riker nodded imperceptibly. _Or it might not. Let me know if anything changes._ He turned his full attention back to his immediate table companions, continuing as if nothing had happened.

Troi continued to 'listen out' for any more definite clues to explain her feeling, but her thoughts kept being pulled back to her husband. For some reason, whatever she was sensing seemed to originate from close to him, but also not. She resisted the urge to frown as she sorted though the confusion of everyone else's emotional output. It certainly felt like Will was concerned, perhaps even agitated; but when she excluded everyone else's imprints, she could only sense the concern her recent question had awoken in him. She returned her attention to her table mates, forced to let matters unfold in their own time. Troi was just in time to hear Lt Ogawa express surprise at some or other medical peculiarity of the Kyattans.

"So there are only two 'races' of Kyattans? And no mixing of those genetic attributes?" Alyssa had paused with her drink halfway to her mouth as Doctor Wiarr answered her previous question regarding the different Kyattan pigmentation.

"Yes, the _hass_," he indicated his own dark grey fur, "and the _yall." _Wiarr nodded towards the agricultural envoy seated further down the table. "Inter-breeding is not that common, and any resultant offspring will outwardly exhibit either the mother or the father's genetic traits, never a combination of both. Such mixed breeds are also usually infertile, perhaps a further indication that perhaps our people weren't meant to mix," the last comment was mumbled into his serviette, but just loud enough for Alyssa to hear.

Still curious but sensing some tricky diplomatic ground, Alyssa deftly steered the conversation down another avenue.

* * *

Tom glared at the security guards that were hovering around the edges of the room. He'd awoken to find himself in small ornate dining room of sorts, hands cuffed behind him and two Kyattan security personnel standing guard. While it was no doubt a relief that he wasn't in a cell somewhere, he had been unable to get any answers out of his guards regarding his current situation.

He tensed as he the door slid open to admit Neyall.

"Finally awake I see." She walked closer to where he was seated on a chair located near the centre of the room. "Heiss wanted you to be close to the action tonight, so we brought you to the banquet…sort of."

Tom blinked, his mind still foggy from the shock prods earlier. "Why?"

"He was hoping having you here might dissuade you from putting whatever scheme you have planned into action. He figured you for a cold mercenary, not a martyr willing to die along with his victims for the sake of making a point."

"No scheme. No plot. No traitor. I'm not involved in whatever you think I am. I'm on your side." Tom replied, keeping his voice calm and slow as he watched Neyall. Did she truly believe him to be a traitor?

"So you keep saying. Well, I'll let you think on that for a while. Feel free to have the guards contact me once you wish to tell me how to prevent an attack tonight." Neyall turned and swept out of the room. Once outside she paused, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. She wasn't sure how much longer she could carry on with this charade.

From the moment they had entered Kassuq's office back at the security headquarters they had been acting for the terrorists' benefit. Her heart went out to Tom, totally unaware of how she and Heiss were using him to flush out the true terrorists. But he was an off-worlder, and if he truly was innocent, they would make amends afterwards.

She walked to another nearby office, nodding to the security guards stationed outside before entering. "Is the transmitter functioning?" She asked a junior officer huddling over a complicated-looking computer setup.

"Yes _Marrell_." The officer stepped aside, gesturing for her to observe with her own eyes. The screen showed the floor plan of the area they were in, a blinking orange icon indicating Kassuq's location. They had implanted him with a tiny transponder that allowed them to track his movements should he escape. _When_ he escaped, Neyall corrected herself – either through assistance by his fellow terrorists or by himself. They would follow him to see if he would lead them to the terrorists; a gamble with high stakes either way.

* * *

Tom shifted in his chair, old hurts and new making themselves felt while he sat with his hands secured behind him. He'd been watching his guards ever since he'd woken up, studying them and his surroundings.

He'd glimpsed at least one guard stationed outside the door as Neyall left, and guessed that there was at least one or more stationed further along in the passage. The two guards locked inside with him were not armed with any energy pistols, but rather with traditional _Assra_ knives known as _dath_, as well as the shock prods he'd already become well acquainted with. That meant that the electronic security blanket he knew was to cover the banquet area, and probably the whole building, was already in place. It was a nifty piece of Kyattan technology that allowed them to control the use of any energy-dependent tool within a specific area covered by the electronic inhibitor blanket. The blanket could be adjusted to allow the use of such low-level energy sources such as computers, data pads and the like, while prohibiting the functions of energy weapons and explosive devices. Mostly; no device was ever a 100 effective. It gave Tom something to work with – not much, but hopefully enough.

Shifting in his chair again he cleared his throat. "I need to use the bathroom."

His guards just glared at him.

"I'm not kidding around here gentlemen. You try going a few rounds with those shock prods and see how you feel."

The senior guard shrugged, nodding towards the junior one. The _Yall_ male curled his lip in distaste, but gestured for Kassuq to stand. There was a small washroom attached directly to the room, with no exit to the passage from there.

Tom stood, accompanied by the sound of joints popping – it was a bad time for old injuries and age to make themselves known. He grimaced, stopping as he reached the doorway. "Ah, I'm going to need my hands free for this."

The guard glared at him again, but complied, removing the electronic cuffs. He stepped back smartly, leaving the door open – whatever Tom wanted to do in there, it was going to be in front of an audience.

"Thanks," Tom rubbed his wrists. Moving slowly as if he still carried some residual pain or stiffness, which didn't require too much acting, he took care of nature's call before washing his hands. He was glad the Kyattans still maintained the option of using water and cleansing liquid, lathering his hands up generously. He opened the tap again, cupping his hands to gather the water before twisting sideways and flicking the soapy water straight at the younger guard's face.

The Kyattan flinched involuntarily, giving Tom the opening he sought. He barrelled into the guard's mid-section with his shoulder, forcing the air from the Kyattan's lungs as they crashed into the wall. As the guard folded over he met one of Tom's fists coming up, knocking him out.

Tom dropped down, grabbing one of the fallen guard's _dath_ and throwing it with deadly accuracy at the older guard who was now running towards them. The second guard fell, clutching at the knife that sprouted from his chest.

It had all happened so fast that no warning shout had gone out. Gathering a shock prod and two _dath_ Tom considered his options. He could rush into the passage, hoping to take however many guards by surprise; but there was a major uncertainty factor in that plan.

Quietly moving the table to a side wall he clambered up and levered open the air vent. It would be a tight squeeze, but at least it allowed him access to the rest of the building without alerting anyone to his escape. There was no way of knowing what sensors might line the air ducts, and he didn't have any equipment with which to neutralize them in any case. Or did he? Perhaps if the walls of the ducts were conductors he could fry any sensors with the shock prod. Whether he could or not, it was his only other option – he was on the fourth storey, the windows backing onto a decidedly solid-looking pavement interspersed with tasteful little gardens.

Gathering his courage he clambered into the duct. Plan B was to use the ducts to sneak away out of the building and initiate his escape plan to get off-planet as quickly as possible. He obviously had no friends here, and he matched their scapegoat description to the T. Ditching this planet and leaving it to whatever fate the universe had in store for it was the most sensible thing to do to guarantee that Tom Riker would live to fight another day.

It was the logical choice.

It made sense.

So instead, he settled for Plan C.

* * *

"He's on the move!" the operative called Neyall's attention.

"Wait a few moments, then check on his guards." Neyall ordered, following the flashing blip eagerly with her eyes. Kassuq had entered the air ducts, slowly moving towards the south.

The report came back that one of his guards were unconscious, the other rushed to a trauma centre with no pulse – his companion's _dath _buried in his chest. It bothered Neyall that Tom's cold dispatch of the guard upset her. In a similar situation, believing herself to be abandoned and betrayed, would she not act in a similar way? Still, his handiwork sent a chill down her spine as she imagined her lover as a butcher.

She watched as he dropped into another room, well away from his recent holding area, before the blip denoting his presence moved into an adjacent passage. A few twists and turns later, it was evident he was heading towards the banquet hall itself. He had taken a brief tour of the building with her a few weeks before, which could explain his slow progress. Or could it be that he was looking for something, or someone?

* * *

Tom ducked inside an office, pausing to catch his breath and listening for any sign of pursuit. He wasn't going to proceed on an assumption that his escape was still unknown. In fact, assume the worst and work your way up from there was his new motto.

He was making his way towards the banquet hall, hoping to… well, get to the bottom of things. He was still convinced the terrorists would launch some sort of attack tonight, and he was damned if it was going to be on his watch. Whether anyone believed him or not, he was going to do the job he'd been paid to do – see that the peace talks had a chance to happen. And saving the Titan crew might just make the universe smile in his direction for once. He already had Deanna's blood on his hands once; he was determined not to let it happen again.

He moved out after a brief pause, looking for a door that would lead him to one of the arched walkways or balconies bordering the banquet hall. If he could access one of those galleries located one floor above the banquet hall's ground entrances, he could get a first-hand look at the situation, and perhaps stop Vess or his fellow conspirators before they could carry out their attack.

Then he would exact blood and truth from the scheming _feyagh_ who was responsible for complicating his life in this unwelcome manner. He unsuccessfully completed his circuit around the banquet hall. All the entrances were guarded, and he wanted to remain unnoticed until he was ready. Back to the ducts then.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

"I want a senior staff meeting in the observation lounge as soon as you can get everyone together," Riker announced to Commander Vale as soon as he materialized on the Titan's transporter platform. Even without any empathic abilities, Christine could feel the anger radiating off her captain.

The away team had hastily been beamed aboard after the incident on the planet, and Christine had only received the briefest of outlines from the security personnel that had accompanied the captain.

Even though it was well after the end of Alpha shift, most of the senior crew was able to report to the observation lounge within a short space of time. While they waited for everyone to gather, Captain Riker met with Troi and Vale in his ready room.

Riker tapped an angry fist on his desk as he tersely described what had happened during the banquet. Troi filled in bits here and there, but was mostly quiet.

"What on earth is…" Christine groped for a comfortable way to address her captain's transporter twin, "...Thomas doing here?" She settled for his first name rather uncomfortably.

"Damned if I know; but knowing him, nothing good." Riker's distrust of his twin was evident.

_Will, we don't know that. _Deanna projected calm – something her husband was very much in need of right now.

Instead of replying he only looked at her and snorted in disbelief.

Christine had observed them often enough to know they were having a very private discussion. It still irked her that the counsellor shared that closeness with her captain, leaving Christine on the outside looking in. Although Riker had promised that he would let nothing of importance slip past Christine, she still resented it.

"We're going to have to tell the crew about him." The only thing faster than FTL travel was rumour, and it had to be nipped in the bud right away. "If they know anything about him it will have been from Starfleet's records. Which I might add is extremely vague on the matter." Christine had studied Riker's portfolio before finally accepting his offer of the Titan's XO position, and had found that particular bit of information very interesting. The records did not reveal much - during an away mission to a backwater planet approximately 20 years ago, a difficult transport off planet had resulted in an exact copy of the then lieutenant Riker. Unaware of the duplicate William T. Riker, the Potempkin had departed after the lieutenant had arrived safely onboard. Riker's transporter twin was only discovered 8 years later in 2369 during a visit by the Enterprise-D to Nervala during a quiescent period in the planet's atmospheric disturbances to collect information recorded by the automated systems left behind for just that purpose. From various staff aboard the Enterprise-E which had been witness to the discovery, Christine gathered little more, other than the two Rikers had quickly clashed over various issues, including Deanna Troi. Thomas was posted to the USS Ghandi, but after two years he abandoned Starfleet for the Maquis, after which he disappeared off the records and out of the universe for all practical purposes.

"Agreed," Riker admitted reluctantly. _But how much?_ He directed his question at Troi, as he stroked his beard, contemplating this unwanted twist in their mission. There were a couple of things he was loathe to reveal to anyone else – Thomas' kidnapping of Deanna, his apparent cooperation with the Romulans, his attempt to assassinate the Klingon emperor… it was a dark and murky matter he did not want to revisit.

He caught Christine's gaze, waiting for her captain to share his thoughts.

"After we found him on Nervala IV, he was assigned to the USS Ghandi. He served aboard for two years before disappearing during a medical relief mission to a planet close to the Cardassian border of the Demilitarized Zone. Starfleet assumed that he had either perished along with his co-pilot, or joined the Maquis. They were unable to confirm anything, and next we heard he was caught trying to steal the USS Defiant from Deep Space 9 for the Maquis." Something I would never have done, he thought to himself.

_Or at least never got caught at,_ Troi's dark eyes glittered with what he sincerely hoped was not humour. During the attack on the planet she'd once again showed concern for the man that had been prepared to stand by and let her be killed by the Romulans. All he wanted to do was boot the bastard out the nearest torpedo tube and be done with it.

"To be honest, he was an embarrassment to Starfleet, and they covered the incident up as best as possible, going so far as to list him as missing again. From personal experience though, we know he spent time in a Cardassian prison after that; which might explain his vicious attack on Lt Dakal," Deanna added as if in defence of Thomas' actions. The unfortunate cadet was currently in sickbay where Zurin was receiving a thorough check-up by Dr Ree.

"Be that as it may," Riker shrugged unsympathetically before continuing. "From there he escaped by tagging along with a Romulan rescue party sent to retrieve one of their own, and was … deeply involved with a subsequent plot by the Romulans to assassinate members of the Klingon government."

Christine picked up on Riker's slight pause mid-sentence. He was obviously not prepared to reveal everything to her, and she just had to hope what he told her gave her enough information to deal with the matter at hand.

"With the help of some Starfleet officers the plot was stopped before it could be executed, and for some reason the Klingons saw it fit to let him run off with a shuttle. After that, who knows what he's been up to. We heard rumours that he'd been recaptured by the Cardassians, but by then the Dominion war was in full swing…" Riker trailed off again as he gestured vaguely with his hands.

"And now he shows up here," Christine mused.

"Yes." A whole world of frustration, anger and hatred was locked up in that one word.

Christine glanced at Troi. Although she seemed just as concerned, Christine thought the counsellor didn't seem as upset as her captain. What on earth had happened to make Riker feel so much animosity towards, well, himself?

"Time to face the music," Riker broke the silence as he checked the ship's chronometer. "Everyone should be assembled for the meeting by now."

The trio exited the captain's ready room, quickly crossing the main bridge centre as they headed to the observation lounge located at the back.

The senior crew was indeed assembled, Dr Ree included along with a rather nervous Zurin Dakal.

"My apologies for the unintended bit of entertainment during dinner tonight," Riker tackled the meeting with his typical off-beat sense of humour. It elicited only a weak grin or nod from his crew, and he quickly turned serious. "Just in case any of you were thinking of checking with Dr Ree for an ophthalmologic examination, let me reassure you – no-one was seeing double. The person you saw down there is indeed my double; the result of a transporter malfunction in 2361. He is a genetically identical copy of myself, even though our lives have taken vastly different routes since that date. He calls himself Thomas Riker, and was last thought to be in the custody of the Cardassians. Obviously, he's not any more, and has somehow made his way here."

Riker proceeded to give a brief outline of the events down on the planet a while earlier, with additional input from lieutenant Pava and a few other witnesses. Afterwards Riker paused, gauging the response of the crew so far. "What I want to know is what he's doing here and why. If he is somehow involved with the terrorist attacks, we need to know." Not that Riker knew exactly what he'd do about it then. But damn it, he still felt responsible for that idiot's actions.

Ranul Keru was the first to speak up. "I managed to speak to one of the Kyattan security people before we left tonight. The captain's double is known to them by the name Tom Kassuq, recently contracted as a consultant with regards to internal security matters on Kyattan. I did a little digging through their databases and found very little else." Ranul found it odd to address this unknown individual by his chosen name 'Thomas'; for some reason it felt too personal, so he settled for the Kyattan form of address. "'Kassuq' as the Kyattans prefer to call him has been in the beta quadrant for the last three or four years. He has taken on a variety of jobs, ranging from navigation officer aboard freighters to security consultant on space stations. We found references from previous employers in this sector, all positive, even though it seemed he never hung around anywhere for long. I had a feeling the Kyattan officer, _Marr _Heiss, had more on his mind than he was revealing, including whether he suspected that Kassuq might be working with the terrorists."

"Captain," Tuvok waited for Riker's acknowledgement. "I must caution our involvement in this matter. Although Thomas is a previous member of Starfleet, he has made himself into an outcast ever since he sided with the Maquis." Tuvok couldn't help but think of his own involvement as undercover agent for Starfleet in the Maquis, and being privy to the series of events that led to Thomas joining with the Maquis. He wondered if at a later stage he should share his knowledge of those events with the captain, but shelved the matter for a later time. "And since Kyattan is not a member of the UFP, we have no jurisdiction over their internal matters. Whatever action we take, whether it involves assistance with their investigations or anything regarding Kassuq, must come at their request. Otherwise our hands are tied."

Riker nodded at Tuvok, acknowledging his comments. "Thank you Commander. However I'd hate for Kassuq to be the sole source of contact between the Federation and the Kyattans. We should at least offer our services to assist with the investigation into tonight's attempted attack. But I agree, the request must come from their side."

A few other points were discussed in general, but they needed more facts before any sort of planning could occur to deal with the situation.

"Well, this is quite formal." Riker greeted his wife as he entered her office. She had asked him to drop in at her counselling offices after his shift.

"It is a formal session." She confirmed as she gestured for him to join her on the comfortable couch that dominated her office. She was sitting upright, hands loosely gathered on her lap. He read her body language, and it informed him this session was going to be all business. Not that he expected anything less than professionalism from her in any official capacity.

Taking a deep breath he settled himself, not dropping into his usual comfortable slouch.

"Let me guess – you want to discuss shore leave for the crew." He ventured, a telltale sparkle in his eyes.

"Perhaps later," she gave him that unnerving neutral smile that could lead even the most unwilling patient to say what they really felt. She would allow him to approach this session with his usual humorous comments, but would allow only so much before reigning him in to focus on the subject at hand.

"Thomas." He frowned as he spoke his twin's chosen name.

Deanna nodded, allowing him to focus his thoughts and continue as he wished.

"I know one can be one's own worst enemy, but really," he flashed her one of his trademark smiles which she answered with a fleeting one of her own.

"It was quite a surprise to see him out here." She verbally nudged him back onto topic.

"You can say that again. I thought…actually hoped, rather, that we had seen the last of him after Sela and her gang of misfits." Riker's smile left his face as he thought back to that incident. It had occurred shortly after the Enterprise-D had met her untimely demise on Veridian III, while the crew had been in limbo before their next assignments.

"And…" Troi gently guided her husband to examine his feelings about their current situation. If he was to deal with it in his capacity as captain of the Titan and representative of the UFP, he had to work through any personal issues that might cloud his judgment.

"And I feel damned angry to find him swimming in my soup again. Everywhere he is involved, I find chaos and destruction following close behind – he should've stayed where he belonged – in prison, paying for his crimes." Riker announced with vehemence.

"Why?"

"Because that's what he deserves for betraying Starfleet, his ideals and values. For betraying you. Damn it Deanna, he was ready to see you killed in order to save his own miserable hide!" Riker admitted forcefully.

"What about you? Do you not feel betrayed too?" Deanna's voice remained infuriatingly calm. Whatever her feelings about the situation, right now she was helping her husband, her captain, deal with it.

"Yes." Will admitted, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I look at him, and I wonder how everything could've gone so wrong. I mean, we are essentially the same person – the same upbringing, the same experiences," he smiled softly at his wife, thinking specifically of when they first met on Betazed. "And yet I despise what he has become – a mercenary, a hired gun, loyal only to the highest payer."

"And you feel responsible." Troi narrowed in on the heart of the matter, regardless of the fact of what she'd sensed in that brief encounter with Thomas. All was not as clear as her husband wanted to believe – Thomas' motives for doing what he did were no doubt complicated, and she dearly wanted to help him as well.

Riker took another deep breath, considering his wife's statement. And in the cold light of her scrutiny, he had to admit the truth of that matter. A part of him did still feel responsible for his double. He wanted to shake some sense into him and put him on the right path again.

"The part of me that doesn't want to strangle him still does."

"Will, this isn't easy for you. But Tuvok was right – this is one time you can't go rushing in to right the wrongs. It is Thomas' life, his decisions, that he has to take responsibility for. If the Kyattans ask for help, then we can assist. But otherwise we will have to deal with events as they develop, and not necessarily what we want to make them into."

Riker reluctantly had to agree, even though he wanted to rush in there and shake the answers out of Thomas. "Understood, Counsellor. But I still don't have to like it, or him."

Troi nodded. There were some difficult days ahead.

Tom woke up with a splitting headache. This time he found himself in a Kyattan detention cell, his body feeling like a herd of _Larr_ beasts had stampeded over him. Repeatedly. Nothing happened for quite some time, leaving him more time that he wished to dwell on current matters. He paced the extent of his cell as he ran through the events at the banquet in his mind. Whatever knocked him out, it hadn't been an energy weapon or thrown object. In fact, he'd felt a tingling feeling under his hairline on the back of his neck just before he collapsed. He gently probed the area with his finger tips, considering the source of the tingle. If he concentrated, he could perhaps convince himself he felt a small unfamiliar bump. He knew Kyattans implanted tracking devices in their prisoners, sometimes with a small chemical packet that could deliver anything from a knockout agent to deadly poison in case of escape.

In retrospect, a transponder implant would explain why he could escape so easily from custody at the hall – it had been a setup to see what he would do. And with a nifty little chemical solution to make sure he didn't get too far.

What could've been hours or even days after his re-capture, Heiss and Neyall showed up.

"I was wondering when the fun would start," Tom looked up at them from where he was perched on the edge of his bunk.

They ignored his comment, wordlessly closing the door behind them.

"You might want to keep your barbed comments to yourself until you've heard us out." Heiss took the lead after a few more moments.

"Heard you out? And here I thought it was the prisoner's job to do all the talking."

"Be funny on your own time, I'm here on business."

Neyall stood silently by, watching the two men. She'd dreaded this moment, and sincerely hoped that Tom wouldn't hold recent events against them.

"Oh, right, sorry sir. Didn't realize that, sir. My apologies. Sir." Sarcasm dripped from Tom's voice.

Heiss glanced at Neyall, raising his eyebrows as if to ask, 'and you expect me to work with this?!'

She shrugged in reply; they didn't have much of a choice. Two days had passed since the attempted attack at the banquet, and they were no closer to apprehending the people responsible. Vess was still missing, but they didn't know whether he was their only security leak.

"As much as this pains me, we need your help." Heiss finally admitted, holding up his hand to forestall Tom as he opened his mouth, no doubt to deliver another barb. The _Marr_ was tired, frustrated, and staring at dead ends all around him.

"After studying the events from the other night, I am forced to admit that you appear to be innocent. Of course, it might all be part of your brilliant ruse, but even I think that might be over-estimating your skills and motives."

"Gee, thanks," Tom managed to squeeze in before Heiss continued.

"Which leaves me with another problem. We've studied these terrorist attacks from all sides, checked and re-checked our security again and again. The only thing we can be sure of is that there's still a leak somewhere – the Kyattan we apprehended at the banquet mysteriously died of a sudden attack of suicide last night, even though he was supposedly under strict guard."

Heiss rubbed at his temple, trying to find an easy way to ask what he was about to.

"The peace talks are scheduled to start in less than a week. The _prorr_ is refusing to cancel them, and I can't guarantee his safety or anyone who would be attending. This is an important meeting, the future stability of Kyattan may well depend on it." Heiss sighed again. "What I'm coming to is….Kassuq, we need your help to speak with the starship people."

Tom was sure his jaw nearly hit the ground – they thought he could intervene on their behalf? Hell, if he knew the captain he probably had standing orders to 'shoot to kill' Tom on sight.

Heiss mistook his silence and continued to explain. "From the Federation documents they sent us, we learnt that we could ask them to provide a neutral venue, perhaps even mediate between our factions. And since you have a history with them…" Heiss trailed off.

Oh yes, he certainly had a history with them all right. "Frankly Heiss, I don't know whether my assistance would help or hinder your request. Starfleet, and this starship's captain in particular, was none too happy with me when our ways parted."

"We have no other option I can see." Heiss stated, his voice cold and even.

Tom sat back on his bunk, leaning back in feigned ease as considered what he'd just heard. "I'd still prefer to avoid being involved in any dealings with the starship. But, if you ask nicely, I will help you sort through the appeal process. Regardless of what you still might or might not believe of me – you contracted me to do a job, and I'll give my best to see it through."

"That is all I can ask," Heiss spread his hands.

"Now, how about getting me out of this dump." Tom sat up again.

"Ah, yes…just as soon as you've been checked out by our medical staff." Heiss replied.

"To refill my little happy pill prescription?" Tom asked facetiously, tapping the back of his neck.

"I might be forced to ask your assistance with this Kassuq, but I'll be damned if I take this road armed with blind faith alone." Heiss replied coldly. "I'll await your arrival in my office no later than this afternoon." Heiss stood, marching out of the cell.

Neyall remained behind, nervously fiddling with her hands and obviously wanting to have a private word with Kassuq.

"Tom, I…"

"Save whatever it is you're going to say Neyall." Tom looked at her coldly, his blue eyes merciless. "I'm just sorry I turned out to be a lousy piece of bait. Maybe if you'd given me some warning I could've done a better job – but oh, I forgot, trust obviously doesn't feature in whatever we had going. If you'd be so kind as to fetch the doc, I'll sit still like a good little lab rat and let him do whatever he needs to so I can get out of here."

Neyall opened her mouth to say something, but froze as she realized nothing she could say or do at this stage would help. Instead she nodded, turning around and quietly leaving the cell.

Tom glared at the door a while longer, cursing himself for feeling betrayed. By now he should know that he could only depend on himself, and no-one else.

"We're receiving a hail form the planet, sir," Ranul Keru reported.

"It's about time." Riker looked at Christine before turning to face Keru. "On screen."

"They're requesting a private channel, sir."

"I'll take it in my ready room. Christine, Deanna…tag along, this could get interesting." Riker headed towards his ready room, XO and diplomatic officer in tow. He'd spent the last two days trying unsuccessfully to get more details regarding the banquet incident from the Kyattans. He'd met with bureaucratic stoicism at every turn, forced to accept their promises that he would be informed as soon as the investigations were completed.

Vale and Troi positioned themselves on the far side of his desk, out of visual pickup of his monitor.

"Greetings _Prorr_ Mrraw," Riker stated formally as the Kyattan ruler appeared. The view screen showed the _prorr_ flanked by his two _prorrii_ together with security chief Heiss.

"Blessed moons shine upon you this day Captain Riker." The _prorr_ replied with equal formality in the traditional Kyattan greeting. "My apologies for the delay, but we are finally able to provide details on our investigations. If possible, we would like to arrange a meeting to discuss our findings and…some other matters of mutual importance."

Riker had a good idea who might be included under those matters.

"We look forward to such a discussion _prorr._ May I offer our starship's facilities in this regard?" Riker caught Christine's nod of approval. There was no way she was going to let her captain beam down to the planet again.

"We would be honoured, Captain." Mrraw gave an inward sigh of relief – the starship people seemed to be reading his mind. A time was quickly set for the following day before he signed off.

In the Titan's ready room, Riker turned to his two officers for their input.

"I wonder what other matters the _prorr_ wishes to discuss." Christine ventured.

"I can make a shrewd guess as to perhaps one of the items, or persons," Riker replied.

"I agree, but I doubt whether it will just concern Thomas." Deanna continued. "From his choice of words and what I sense – there's more to his wish to come and talk with us than just discussing a rogue human."

The trio discussed matters a bit more before rejoining the rest of the bridge crew. Arrangements were soon underway to receive the visitors the next day.


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 6_

"I want a senior staff meeting in the observation lounge as soon as you can get everyone together," Riker announced to Commander Vale as soon as he materialized on the Titan's transporter platform. Even without any empathic abilities, Christine could feel the anger radiating off her captain.

The away team had hastily been beamed aboard after the incident on the planet, and Christine had only received the briefest of outlines from the security personnel that had accompanied the captain.

Even though it was well after the end of Alpha shift, most of the senior crew was able to report to the observation lounge within a short space of time. While they waited for everyone to gather, Captain Riker met with Troi and Vale in his ready room.

Riker tapped an angry fist on his desk as he tersely described what had happened during the banquet. Troi filled in bits here and there, but was mostly quiet.

"What on earth is…" Christine groped for a comfortable way to address her captain's transporter twin, "...Thomas doing here?" She settled for his first name rather uncomfortably.

"Damned if I know; but knowing him, nothing good." Riker's distrust of his twin was evident.

_Will, we don't know that. _Deanna projected calm – something her husband was very much in need of right now.

Instead of replying he only looked at her and snorted in disbelief.

Christine had observed them often enough to know they were having a very private discussion. It still irked her that the counsellor shared that closeness with her captain, leaving Christine on the outside looking in. Although Riker had promised that he would let nothing of importance slip past Christine, she still resented it.

"We're going to have to tell the crew about him." The only thing faster than FTL travel was rumour, and it had to be nipped in the bud right away. "If they know anything about him it will have been from Starfleet's records. Which I might add is extremely vague on the matter." Christine had studied Riker's portfolio before finally accepting his offer of the Titan's XO position, and had found that particular bit of information very interesting. The records did not reveal much - during an away mission to a backwater planet approximately 20 years ago, a difficult transport off planet had resulted in an exact copy of the then lieutenant Riker. Unaware of the duplicate William T. Riker, the Potempkin had departed after the lieutenant had arrived safely onboard. Riker's transporter twin was only discovered 8 years later in 2369 during a visit by the Enterprise-D to Nervala during a quiescent period in the planet's atmospheric disturbances to collect information recorded by the automated systems left behind for just that purpose. From various staff aboard the Enterprise-E which had been witness to the discovery, Christine gathered little more, other than the two Rikers had quickly clashed over various issues, including Deanna Troi. Thomas was posted to the USS Ghandi, but after two years he abandoned Starfleet for the Maquis, after which he disappeared off the records and out of the universe for all practical purposes.

"Agreed," Riker admitted reluctantly. _But how much?_ He directed his question at Troi, as he stroked his beard, contemplating this unwanted twist in their mission. There were a couple of things he was loathe to reveal to anyone else – Thomas' kidnapping of Deanna, his apparent cooperation with the Romulans, his attempt to assassinate the Klingon emperor… it was a dark and murky matter he did not want to revisit.

He caught Christine's gaze, waiting for her captain to share his thoughts.

"After we found him on Nervala IV, he was assigned to the USS Ghandi. He served aboard for two years before disappearing during a medical relief mission to a planet close to the Cardassian border of the Demilitarized Zone. Starfleet assumed that he had either perished along with his co-pilot, or joined the Maquis. They were unable to confirm anything, and next we heard he was caught trying to steal a runabout from Deep Space 9 for the Maquis." Something I would never have done, he thought to himself.

_Or at least never got caught at,_ Troi's dark eyes glittered with what he sincerely hoped was not humour. During the attack on the planet she'd once again showed concern for the man that had been prepared to stand by and let her be killed by the Romulans. All he wanted to do was boot the bastard out the nearest torpedo tube and be done with it.

"To be honest, he was an embarrassment to Starfleet, and they covered the incident up as best as possible, going so far as to list him as missing again. From personal experience though, we know he spent time in a Cardassian prison after that; which might explain his vicious attack on Lt Dakal," Deanna added as if in defence of Thomas' actions. The unfortunate cadet was currently in sickbay where Zurin was receiving a thorough check-up by Dr Ree.

"Be that as it may," Riker shrugged unsympathetically before continuing. "From there he escaped by tagging along with a Romulan rescue party sent to retrieve one of their own, and was … deeply involved with a subsequent plot by the Romulans to assassinate members of the Klingon government."

Christine picked up on Riker's slight pause mid-sentence. He was obviously not prepared to reveal everything to her, and she just had to hope what he told her gave her enough information to deal with the matter at hand.

"With the help of some Starfleet officers the plot was stopped before it could be executed, and for some reason the Klingons saw it fit to let him run off with a shuttle. After that, who knows what he's been up to. We heard rumours that he'd been recaptured by the Cardassians, but by then the Dominion war was in full swing…" Riker trailed off again as he gestured vaguely with his hands.

"And now he shows up here," Christine mused.

"Yes." A whole world of frustration, anger and hatred was locked up in that one word.

Christine glanced at Troi. Although she seemed just as concerned, Christine thought the counsellor didn't seem as upset as her captain. What on earth had happened to make Riker feel so much animosity towards, well, himself?

"Time to face the music," Riker broke the silence as he checked the ship's chronometer. "Everyone should be assembled for the meeting by now."

The trio exited the captain's ready room, quickly crossing the main bridge centre as they headed to the observation lounge located at the back.

The senior crew was indeed assembled, Dr Ree included along with a rather nervous Zurin Dakal.

"My apologies for the unintended bit of entertainment during dinner tonight," Riker tackled the meeting with his typical off-beat sense of humour. It elicited only a weak grin or nod from his crew, and he quickly turned serious. "Just in case any of you were thinking of checking with Dr Ree for an ophthalmologic examination, let me reassure you – no-one was seeing double. The person you saw down there is indeed my double; the result of a transporter malfunction in 2361. He is a genetically identical copy of myself, even though our lives have taken vastly different routes since that date. He calls himself Thomas Riker, and was last thought to be in the custody of the Cardassians. Obviously, he's not any more, and has somehow made his way here."

Riker proceeded to give a brief outline of the events down on the planet a while earlier, with additional input from lieutenant Pava and a few other witnesses. Afterwards Riker paused, gauging the response of the crew so far. "What I want to know is what he's doing here and why. If he is somehow involved with the terrorist attacks, we need to know." Not that Riker knew exactly what he'd do about it then. But damn it, he still felt responsible for that idiot's actions.

Ranul Keru was the first to speak up. "I managed to speak to one of the Kyattan security people before we left tonight. The captain's double is known to them by the name Tom Kassuq, recently contracted as a consultant with regards to internal security matters on Kyattan. I did a little digging through their databases and found very little else." Ranul found it odd to address this unknown individual by his chosen name 'Thomas'; for some reason it felt too personal, so he settled for the Kyattan form of address. "'Kassuq' as the Kyattans prefer to call him has been in the beta quadrant for the last three or four years. He has taken on a variety of jobs, ranging from navigation officer aboard freighters to security consultant on space stations. We found references from previous employers in this sector, all positive, even though it seemed he never hung around anywhere for long. I had a feeling the Kyattan officer, _Marr _Heiss, had more on his mind than he was revealing, including whether he suspected that Kassuq might be working with the terrorists."

"Captain," Tuvok waited for Riker's acknowledgement. "I must caution our involvement in this matter. Although Thomas is a previous member of Starfleet, he has made himself into an outcast ever since he sided with the Maquis." Tuvok couldn't help but think of his own involvement as undercover agent for Starfleet in the Maquis, and being privy to the series of events that led to Thomas joining with the Maquis. He wondered if at a later stage he should share his knowledge of those events with the captain, but shelved the matter for a later time. "And since Kyattan is not a member of the UFP, we have no jurisdiction over their internal matters. Whatever action we take, whether it involves assistance with their investigations or anything regarding Kassuq, must come at their request. Otherwise our hands are tied."

Riker nodded at Tuvok, acknowledging his comments. "Thank you Commander. However I'd hate for Kassuq to be the sole source of contact between the Federation and the Kyattans. We should at least offer our services to assist with the investigation into tonight's attempted attack. But I agree, the request must come from their side."

A few other points were discussed in general, but they needed more facts before any sort of planning could occur to deal with the situation.

* * *

"Well, this is quite formal." Riker greeted his wife as he entered her office. She had asked him to drop in at her counselling offices after his shift.

"It is a formal session." She confirmed as she gestured for him to join her on the comfortable couch that dominated her office. She was sitting upright, hands loosely gathered on her lap. He read her body language, and it informed him this session was going to be all business. Not that he expected anything less than professionalism from her in any official capacity.

Taking a deep breath he settled himself, not dropping into his usual comfortable slouch.

"Let me guess – you want to discuss shore leave for the crew." He ventured, a telltale sparkle in his eyes.

"Perhaps later," she gave him that unnerving neutral smile that could lead even the most unwilling patient to say what they really felt. She would allow him to approach this session with his usual humorous comments, but would allow only so much before reigning him in to focus on the subject at hand.

"Thomas." He frowned as he spoke his twin's chosen name.

Deanna nodded, allowing him to focus his thoughts and continue as he wished.

"I know one can be one's own worst enemy, but really," he flashed her one of his trademark smiles which she answered with a fleeting one of her own.

"It was quite a surprise to see him out here." She verbally nudged him back onto topic.

"You can say that again. I thought…actually hoped, rather, that we had seen the last of him after Sela and her gang of misfits." Riker's smile left his face as he thought back to that incident. It had occurred shortly after the Enterprise-D had met her untimely demise on Veridian III, while the crew had been in limbo before their next assignments.

"And…" Troi gently guided her husband to examine his feelings about their current situation. If he was to deal with it in his capacity as captain of the Titan and representative of the UFP, he had to work through any personal issues that might cloud his judgment.

"And I feel damned angry to find him swimming in my soup again. Everywhere he is involved, I find chaos and destruction following close behind – he should've stayed where he belonged – in prison, paying for his crimes." Riker announced with vehemence.

"Why?"

"Because that's what he deserves for betraying Starfleet, his ideals and values. For betraying you. Damn it Deanna, he was ready to see you killed in order to save his own miserable hide!" Riker admitted forcefully.

"What about you? Do you not feel betrayed too?" Deanna's voice remained infuriatingly calm. Whatever her feelings about the situation, right now she was helping her husband, her captain, deal with it.

"Yes." Will admitted, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I look at him, and I wonder how everything could've gone so wrong. I mean, we are essentially the same person – the same upbringing, the same experiences," he smiled softly at his wife, thinking specifically of when they first met on Betazed. "And yet I despise what he has become – a mercenary, a hired gun, loyal only to the highest payer."

"And you feel responsible." Troi narrowed in on the heart of the matter, regardless of the fact of what she'd sensed in that brief encounter with Thomas. All was not as clear as her husband wanted to believe – Thomas' motives for doing what he did were no doubt complicated, and she dearly wanted to help him as well.

Riker took another deep breath, considering his wife's statement. And in the cold light of her scrutiny, he had to admit the truth of that matter. A part of him did still feel responsible for his double. He wanted to shake some sense into him and put him on the right path again.

"The part of me that doesn't want to strangle him still does."

"Will, this isn't easy for you. But Tuvok was right – this is one time you can't go rushing in to right the wrongs. It is Thomas' life, his decisions, that he has to take responsibility for. If the Kyattans ask for help, then we can assist. But otherwise we will have to deal with events as they develop, and not necessarily what we want to make them into."

Riker reluctantly had to agree, even though he wanted to rush in there and shake the answers out of Thomas. "Understood, Counsellor. But I still don't have to like it, or him."

Troi nodded. There were some difficult days ahead.

* * *

Tom woke up with a splitting headache. This time he found himself in a Kyattan detention cell, his body feeling like a herd of _Larr_ beasts had stampeded over him. Repeatedly. Nothing happened for quite some time, leaving him more time that he wished to dwell on current matters. He paced the extent of his cell as he ran through the events at the banquet in his mind. Whatever knocked him out, it hadn't been an energy weapon or thrown object. In fact, he'd felt a tingling feeling under his hairline on the back of his neck just before he collapsed. He gently probed the area with his finger tips, considering the source of the tingle. If he concentrated, he could perhaps convince himself he felt a small unfamiliar bump. He knew Kyattans implanted tracking devices in their prisoners, sometimes with a small chemical packet that could deliver anything from a knockout agent to deadly poison in case of escape.

In retrospect, a transponder implant would explain why he could escape so easily from custody at the hall – it had been a setup to see what he would do. And with a nifty little chemical solution to make sure he didn't get too far. Bastards.

What could've been hours or even days after his re-capture, Heiss and Neyall showed up.

"I was wondering when the fun would start," Tom looked up at them from where he was perched on the edge of his bunk.

They ignored his comment, wordlessly closing the door behind them.

"You might want to keep your barbed comments to yourself until you've heard us out." Heiss took the lead after a few more moments.

"Heard you out? And here I thought it was the prisoner's job to do all the talking."

"Be funny on your own time, I'm here on business."

Neyall stood silently by, watching the two men. She'd dreaded this moment, and sincerely hoped that Tom wouldn't hold recent events against them.

"Oh, right, sorry sir. Didn't realize that, sir. My apologies. Sir." Sarcasm dripped from Tom's voice.

Heiss glanced at Neyall, raising his eyebrows as if to ask, 'and you expect me to work with this?!'

She shrugged in reply; they didn't have much of a choice. Two days had passed since the attempted attack at the banquet, and they were no closer to apprehending the people responsible. Vess was still missing, but they didn't know whether he was their only security leak.

"As much as this pains me, we need your help." Heiss finally admitted, holding up his hand to forestall Tom as he opened his mouth, no doubt to deliver another barb. The _Marr_ was tired, frustrated, and staring at dead ends all around him.

"After studying the events from the other night, I am forced to admit that you appear to be innocent. Of course, it might all be part of your brilliant ruse, but even I think that might be over-estimating your skills and motives."

"Gee, thanks," Tom managed to squeeze in before Heiss continued.

"Which leaves me with another problem. We've studied these terrorist attacks from all sides, checked and re-checked our security again and again. The only thing we can be sure of is that there's still a leak somewhere – the Kyattan we apprehended at the banquet mysteriously died of a sudden attack of suicide last night, even though he was supposedly under strict guard."

Heiss rubbed at his temple, trying to find an easy way to ask what he was about to.

"The peace talks are scheduled to start in less than a week. The _prorr_ is refusing to cancel them, and I can't guarantee his safety or anyone who would be attending. This is an important meeting, the future stability of Kyattan may well depend on it." Heiss sighed again. "What I'm coming to is….Kassuq, we need your help to speak with the starship people."

Tom was sure his jaw nearly hit the ground – they thought he could intervene on their behalf? Hell, if he knew the captain he probably had standing orders to 'shoot to kill' Tom on sight.

Heiss mistook his silence and continued to explain. "From the Federation documents they sent us, we learnt that we could ask them to provide a neutral venue, perhaps even mediate between our factions. And since you have a history with them…" Heiss trailed off.

Oh yes, he certainly had a history with them all right. "Frankly Heiss, I don't know whether my assistance would help or hinder your request. Starfleet, and this starship's captain in particular, was none too happy with me when our ways parted."

"We have no other option I can see." Heiss stated, his voice cold and even.

Tom sat back on his bunk, leaning back in feigned ease as considered what he'd just heard. "I'd still prefer to avoid being involved in any dealings with the starship. But, if you ask nicely, I will help you sort through the appeal process. Regardless of what you still might or might not believe of me – you contracted me to do a job, and I'll give my best to see it through."

"That is all I can ask," Heiss spread his hands.

"Now, how about getting me out of this dump." Tom sat up again.

"Ah, yes…just as soon as you've been checked out by our medical staff." Heiss replied.

"To refill my little happy pill prescription?" Tom asked facetiously, tapping the back of his neck.

"I might be forced to ask your assistance with this Kassuq, but I'll be damned if I take this road armed with blind faith alone." Heiss replied coldly. "I'll await your arrival in my office no later than this afternoon." Heiss stood, marching out of the cell.

Neyall remained behind, nervously fiddling with her hands and obviously wanting to have a private word with Kassuq.

"Tom, I…"

"Save whatever it is you're going to say Neyall." Tom looked at her coldly, his blue eyes merciless. "I'm just sorry I turned out to be a lousy piece of bait. Maybe if you'd given me some warning I could've done a better job – but oh, I forgot, trust obviously doesn't feature in whatever we had going. If you'd be so kind as to fetch the doc, I'll sit still like a good little lab rat and let him do whatever he needs to so I can get out of here."

Neyall opened her mouth to say something, but froze as she realized nothing she could say or do at this stage would help. Instead she nodded, turning around and quietly leaving the cell.

Tom glared at the door a while longer, cursing himself for feeling betrayed. By now he should know that he could only depend on himself, and no-one else.

* * *

"We're receiving a hail form the planet, sir," Ranul Keru reported.

"It's about time." Riker looked at Christine before turning to face Keru. "On screen."

"They're requesting a private channel, sir."

"I'll take it in my ready room. Christine, Deanna…tag along, this could get interesting." Riker headed towards his ready room, XO and diplomatic officer in tow. He'd spent the last two days trying unsuccessfully to get more details regarding the banquet incident from the Kyattans. He'd met with bureaucratic stoicism at every turn, forced to accept their promises that he would be informed as soon as the investigations were completed.

Vale and Troi positioned themselves on the far side of his desk, out of visual pickup of his monitor.

"Greetings _Prorr_ Mrraw," Riker stated formally as the Kyattan ruler appeared. The view screen showed the _prorr_ flanked by his two _prorrii_ together with security chief Heiss.

"Blessed moons shine upon you this day Captain Riker." The _prorr_ replied with equal formality in the traditional Kyattan greeting. "My apologies for the delay, but we are finally able to provide details on our investigations. If possible, we would like to arrange a meeting to discuss our findings and…some other matters of mutual importance."

Riker had a good idea who might be included under those matters.

"We look forward to such a discussion _prorr._ May I offer our starship's facilities in this regard?" Riker caught Christine's nod of approval. There was no way she was going to let her captain beam down to the planet again.

"We would be honoured, Captain." Mrraw gave an inward sigh of relief – the starship people seemed to be reading his mind. A time was quickly set for the following day before he signed off.

In the Titan's ready room, Riker turned to his two officers for their input.

"I wonder what other matters the _prorr_ wishes to discuss." Christine ventured.

"I can make a shrewd guess as to perhaps one of the items, or persons," Riker replied.

"I agree, but I doubt whether it will just concern Thomas." Deanna continued. "From his choice of words and what I sense – there's more to his wish to come and talk with us than just discussing a rogue human."

The trio discussed matters a bit more before rejoining the rest of the bridge crew. Arrangements were soon underway to receive the visitors the next day.


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 7_

"The Kyattan delegation is standing by to beam up, sir," Lt Radowski informed his captain. Riker, Vale and Troi stood ready to receive the delegation before escorting them to the observation lounge that had been set up for that morning's meeting.

"And?" Riker asked, noting Radowski looking up as if he had more to add.

"One of the signals reads as human, sir," Bowen responded.

Captain Riker's face froze for a moment before he glanced at Christine and Deanna. "Well, that's interesting."

"Why would they bring him here after his attack on one of our officers?" Vale voiced the question that was on everyone's mind.

"To apologize maybe?" Troi ventured.

Riker could think of a thousand responses to that question; none of them polite. "Only one way to find out – energ-…"

"Captain, wait. Shouldn't we at least get some security personnel in here first."

"Commander, I can hardly welcome the diplomatic delegation with phasers on standby. If they see it fit to bring him along, I can only trust the _prorr_ and his people know what they're doing. We'll just have to play the hand we've been dealt. Energize." The last was directed at Lt Radowski.

Christine could see her captain's point, but she hated a loose canon aboard her ship. And Thomas Riker was just a whole wagon-load full of loose canon.

Five beams shimmered on the transporter platform, materializing into _Prorr _Mrraw, along with two other Yall and one Hass. And Thomas.

"Welcome to the Titan _Prorr _Mrraw, _Prorii_ Vaill, _Marr_ Heiss," Riker stepped forward, nodding to the Kyattans he recognized.

"May I introduce _Marr_ Heiss's second, _Marrell _Neyall," _Prorr_ Mrraw gestured towards the ginger-furred female. "And of course you know Thomas Riker, or at least Tom Kassuq as he is known to us."

Riker put on his best poker face and smiled faintly as he nodded at Neyall and Thomas. "Yes, indeed." The surname Mrraw used to introduce Thomas again tickled at the back of Riker's mind. When he'd first heard mention of Tom's new alias the surname had struck him as somehow familiar, but had been unable to place it. Was it a native Kyattan word? Or was it something Thomas chose to distance himself from the Riker name? "If you'll follow me?" He gestured towards the transporter room doors, eager to get the delegation behind closed conference doors where he could demand an answer.

Tom remained coldly polite. He nodded to the human transporter technician in the background. The man's eyes had only widened slightly when Tom had arrived, the similarity between Tom and his captain still startling even though he had no doubt been aware of the situation.

_Great, barely 30 seconds onboard and I'm already thinking of myself as a 'situation'._ Tom consciously relaxed his shoulders, his eyes roving the corridor as he took in the ship and the visible crewmembers, bustling around in typical Starfleet efficiency.

Deanna fell in behind Will, using her diplomatic skills to the full as she made conversation with the delegates en route. Christine dropped back, bringing up the rear and keeping an eye on Tom while the captain and _prorr_ Mrraw lead the way.

When everyone was finally seated in the observation lounge, Captain Riker took the bull by the horns.

"_Prorr _Mrraw, we are honoured by your visit and your willingness to discuss matters of mutual interest, I have to ask a question before we start." The captain paused, waiting for Mrraw's nod or verbal queue.

"Of course captain. If it relates to mister Kassuq's presence here today, allow me to answer."

"It does indeed, _prorr_. During our last visit to your planet, 'Kassuq' made quite an entrance before launching an attack on one of my crew members."

"Just so, captain, just so." Mrraw spoke with the calm and measured tones of a seasoned statesman. "We offer our sincerest apologies for the incident – we hope your crew member did not sustain any hurt?"

Besides being scared witless and almost stabbed…or course not. Riker could feel Deanna's disapproval regarding the tone of his thoughts. Sitting up a little straighter, he vowed to not sink this ship before it sailed.

"Thank you for your concern _Prorr_. Lieutenant Dakal was more shocked than anything else." _As were we all._

"That is good to hear." Mrraw smiled before continuing. "Kassuq was, and still is, involved in a covert operation to flush out a possible terrorist informant in our security ranks. And I'm afraid the situation that night might have gotten just a bit out of claw's reach. I have asked him along to serve as an extra pair of ears – his previous experience with your Federation makes him a valuable resource to us."

Riker noted the careful use of words; Mrraw was dancing around the issue of how exactly Tom was involved. However, he could not dispute the fact that were he in Mrraw's shoes, he would also use whatever resource he could to help him solve a difficult situation.

He glanced at Vale and Troi to gauge their reactions to the statesman's words. Christine's expression was attentive but neutral, while Troi's betrayed a hint of a smile that belied the small furrow of concentration he could see.

Deanna was indeed deep in concentration, but not just on the _prorr_. She could easily sense the emotions of the Kyattans, although Mrraw and Vaill's were much more controlled, as was her experience with most professional diplomats. Heiss and Neyall's were a bit more easily discerned, but it was Tom she found herself focusing on. There was a definite discrepancy between Mrraw's explanation and Tom's feelings. Deanna carefully reached for Tom's mind, almost physically recoiling when she brushed against the roiling depths just below the steely exterior. Realizing that the conversation was carrying on without her, she withdrew and re-focused on the discussion.

"…resulting in our world finally being governed by one central government. However there are still elements in our community who do not feel that past wrongs have been fully redressed, nor that our government is living up to it's democratic charter. However, this minority faction is unwilling to resolve their differences peacefully, and have recently escalated from political denouncements to anonymous threats to a series of attacks – one of which took place aboard our freighter Rass, which you were so kind to assist.

"The attack at the banquet was another of their attempts to cripple the current Kyattan governing body. According to their propaganda, they wish to expose how inefficient the current 'corrupt' government is, how through their inability to protect their own and rule diplomatically, it is unfit for it's purpose." Mrraw paused to take a breath.

"I am the first to admit that our governing body is not without fault, but we have come a long way towards true democracy. A few decades ago no-one would ever have believed it if you were to tell them that a _hass_ would be the planetary governor one day," Mrraw gave a depreciating grin. "And yet, here I am. To return to the matter at hand – our government is continually striving towards its diplomatic and equality ideals. In that regard, we are in the final stages of preparation for a meeting between various Kyattan political factions. A conference that is now under threat by the growing certainty of a terrorist attack – no faction wishes to attend a peace meeting where their next breath may be their last."

"We sympathize with your problem, _prorr_ Mrraw, and respect your efforts to lead your world to a peaceful future." The captain spoke up, offering Mrraw support and an opening. He knew the _prorr_ was working his way around to something, and he had a growing suspicion as to its nature.

Mrraw gave a slow blink, which Deanna had informed him was not only a sign of agreement, but also trust among Kyattans.

"In that respect, I have been advised," Mrraw's gaze slid to the side of the table where Heiss and Tom sat, "that I can seek your assistance. Captain, the Kyattan government wishes to formally apply for your aid in hosting the peace conference, perhaps even assist in mediating some of our internal disputes."

Captain Riker nodded soberly, unwilling to give a quick answer. Kyattan was not a member, or even a prospective member of the UFP, and as such Starfleet could not involve themselves in any internal planetary matters. However, the Titan's mission to the Beta Quadrant was both exploratory and by inclusion also that of diplomacy. He glanced at Christine, receiving an almost imperceptible nod of approval from her. Instead of looking in Deanna's direction, he rather sent out a tendril of thought.

_It is in our mandate to assist when asked for help. But careful Will, I sense there is more involved here than what the governor is willing to let on._

Riker nodded gently, fixing _prorr_ Mrraw with his gaze. "We would be happy to host the peace conference onboard the Titan, _Prorr_."

"My thanks, captain, and that of our planet. _Marr _Heiss and _Marrell _Neyall is at your disposal to provide whatever input you need." Mrraw smiled graciously, although Troi sensed a wave of relief. It never came easy to ask for help, no matter whether you were a lowly ensign or the ruler of a world.

"Thank you, sir. Commanders Vale and Troi will oversee the arrangements from our side. In order to formalize your request, there are a few documents that need to be completed for our ship records." Captain Riker continued. "Commander Troi will provide you with the necessary data to facilitate this."

"Ah, yes. We may already have some of them in order Captain, Commander," Mrraw nodded to Heiss who handed over a data pad to Commander Troi. "Kassuq was most helpful in directing us in this matter."

"Of course, a fortunate happenstance," Deanna smiled sincerely, although Christine could almost hear her captain grinding his teeth.

The meeting continued a while longer as the _prorr_ and his group provided more information on the terrorist attacks, the political factions involved in the peace talks, and of course the results of their investigation into the attack at the banquet.

* * *

"Well, that was… interesting," Riker drew out the last word as he seated himself behind his ready room table, Vale and Troi taking their seats on the far side. Riker had asked them to join him after they had seen the Kyattan delegation off, and before he briefed the rest of the command crew.

"Are they sincere?" Christine asked Troi.

"For the most part, yes." Troi answered, receiving querying looks from both Christine and Riker. "It is never easy to admit that you need help, and even more so if you represent a planet's governing body. From Mrraw I sensed mostly sincerity, along with trepidation and hope. From the other Kyattans I sensed much the same, in varying degrees."

"And Tom?" Riker asked.

"From a brief brush I sensed that he sees the safety of the peace conference as part of his job, what he is being paid to do. There was something else though; he had some definite ambiguous feelings regarding the _prorr_'s explanation of events at the banquet."

"So do I." Riker added.

"In what way?" Christine addressed Troi.

"I'm not sure. It may be that Tom disagrees with what was revealed to us, or the way in which events were interpreted."

"Is he a threat?" Riker asked bluntly.

"Not to the peace talks or any of the Kyattans." Troi replied.

"And to us? To the Titan?" Riker focused on what she was not saying.

"No – he is dedicated to his task, in fact, that's the overwhelming impression I received. This is about the job, and getting it done. Any other personal feelings were thoroughly suppressed."

Christine sensed that there was more than Troi was willing to reveal at this stage. They discussed a few more points before Riker dismissed the meeting.

"If I may have a word in private, captain?" Troi rose but paused as Christine headed towards the door.

Christine noted Troi's use of her husband's official title – the counsellor obviously meant to talk business.

"If it's connected to Tom and the Kyattans, perhaps you should stay, Commander," Riker looked at Vale before returning his gaze to Troi.

"It is, sir, but on a more personal level than our arrangements for the conference."

"Of course, counsellor," Riker resisted the urge to sigh as he sat down again, leaving Christine to make a getaway.

Vale paused as the doors closed behind her, not envying any of the remaining occupants. Troi obviously was about to tell the captain something he wasn't going to enjoy, and they both knew it. As she settled in the command chair she kept her ears open, willing to imagine that she heard snatches of a pitched debate even though the doors were supposedly soundproof.

* * *

"No. Absolutely not." Riker crossed his arms as he sat back in his chair, a steely look in his eyes.

"Are you seriously considering my request or just playing out your feelings toward him." Troi countered, keeping her posture neutral and her voice quiet but firm.

"Deanna, no matter what _Prorr_ Mrraw said, when Tom ran into that banquet hall, armed, he meant business. And if it weren't for your quick thinking – this ship would have one crew member less!"

"The _prorr_ wasn't entirely open about that evening's events. And from what I sense from Tom, there is definitely more to it than we've been told. I want to talk to him and find out what's going on."

"And you think he'll just roll over and tell you his secrets?" Will remained sceptical, doubt evident in his voice.

"No, but I'm willing to give him a chance." Troi leaned forward, leaning on the desk as she captured her husband's gaze. "Will, we have no idea how he ended up here. From what I could feel from him he is dedicated to his mission, even willing to give his life to see it through."

"His services, and his life, come cheaply. You and I both know that he's willing to sell it to anyone. So who's to say he isn't in league with the terrorists," Riker sneered.

"I can find out." Troi stated.

"No. Deanna – I don't trust him within a thousand light-years of you. There's no way I'm going to allow anything to happen to you, or to this ship, because of him." Riker was adamant.

"And nothing will. Will, I'm not proposing that I beam down there to meet him in some deserted building at midnight. I want to invite him here, to see me in my offices. You can have a security guard stationed outside if you want, but I'm certain that he'll be able to provide us with some insight regarding the Kyattan situation."

"And is that the only reason?"

"No." Troi tilted her head as if listening to some inner voice, which knowing her, she probably was. "I want to help him too, if I can."

"Why? He's caused us nothing but grief ever since we discovered him."

"Perhaps. But maybe some good can still come of this. Will, try and imagine yourself in his shoes – as difficult as that may be," Troi gave a slight smile as Will grunted. "I don't think he ever managed to deal with the fact that he's considered an extra, an unwanted duplicate that has no place in what he thought of as his own life. And considering who I married, there must be something good within Tom – and perhaps I can help him find it." Her brief brush with Tom's mind had left Troi with some confusion as to his true emotional state. She'd sensed anger and hurt, mixed with betrayal and self-recrimination. It was a dark and potent mixture of emotions, and the small part of her that still cared for him wanted to reach out.

Riker gave an exasperated sigh. He would feel much more comfortable about the upcoming peace conference if he had a more honest view of developments on Kyattan, but he did not like whom fate or luck had provided for him.

"All right, you win. Go ahead and invite him to tea or whatever. But if I find so much as a hair out of place during his visit, I'm booting him out the nearest airlock." Riker smiled briefly, though his blue eyes remained cool.

"Thank you." Troi squeezed her husband's hand.

* * *

When his wife had volunteered no information regarding her proposed meeting with Tom after a few days, Riker queried her on her progress.

"He's either a totally indispensable part of their security efforts who never sleeps or eats; or he's avoiding me. I'm beginning to suspect the latter." Troi had a determined set to her features; one the captain was becoming exceedingly familiar with.

"Perhaps you should leave it be then. He obviously doesn't want to talk about it." He offered. "His personal input regarding the Kyattans might've been valuable, but I'm sure we can muddle through without it." Privately Riker was overjoyed his double was keeping his distance.

Tom had only been on board once since their initial Kyattan delegation requested permission to hold the conference onboard. Though he had seen the man's inputs or heard his suggestions via Heiss or Neyall, Tom had been most evident in his absence. Was he intentionally remaining out of sight so as to ease the relationship between Riker and the Kyattans, or was he pulling strings in the background. And who's strings?

"Maybe," Troi seemed unconvinced. "I'll give it one more try before the peace conference starts. If not," she spread her hands. "Then I'll leave it be until afterwards."

"Or maybe completely?" Riker asked hopefully.

"Captain, even you," _Especially you, _she added mentally, "can appreciate the benefits of working through difficult personal issues. I specifically remember a difficult session back on Betazed when you were still a lieutenant." She blinked her large dark eyes at him in an absurdly innocent way.

"All right, counsellor," Riker's mouth twitched as he tried unsuccessfully to suppress a smile. "For old time's sake then."

Troi smiled, reaching out to caress her husband's cheek before setting off for her office. Tracking down Tom was proving harder than she'd thought. Whenever she'd tried to speak to him aboard the Titan to arrange a meeting, he'd always fended her off saying he was 'too busy', or 'perhaps later'. But somehow 'later' never happened. Queries she'd left with his office on Kyattan were never answered.

She took a deep breath. This time she was going to stay on-line and demand- … Well, maybe not demand, but ask extremely firmly, to speak with him.

"You mean he's not there?" a worried junior security officer unexpectedly answered her request to speak with Tom.

"No, not that I'm aware of." Troi frowned, sensing barely suppressed panic from the young Kyattan.

"Oh, then I guess he's doing rounds somewhere with Neyall. I'll tell him you called." And with that abrupt answer the connection was broken.

Troi stared at the monitor in confusion. Why was the Kyattan so anxious? His answer had been vague and evasive, and he'd cut their conversation short rather rudely. However, if Tom was due to visit the ship with the rest of the security detail today, she'd corner him then.

* * *

Tom unwillingly surfaced into consciousness, a pounding headache awaiting him as he stirred. He was becoming way too familiar with the after-effects of the drug delivered by his implanted tracking device.

"What, you couldn't just come right out and ask me to stand still?" he groaned as he lifted his head from the stone floor to survey his surroundings.

Last he remembered he'd been playing hide and seek with the security guards set to keep watch over him. During the last week or so he'd gradually been allowed to return to a semblance of his former work status – moved from a secure facility back to his own apartments in the capital. He'd quickly picked up on his 'shadows', no doubt put there to keep an eye on him in case he suddenly took it to mind to start a new career in bomb construction or socialize with terrorists. That evening – if it was still the same day – he'd left the office at the usual time and had been en-route to his apartment. He'd taken a side-trip through the local shops, purely to irritate his 'shadows' and see if he could lose them, at least for a few minutes, as he was sure they were tracking his movements using compact data pads.

The game had taken a decidedly unfair turn when Tom felt a slight tingle at the back of his neck that signified the discharge of his tracking device's drug. He'd tumbled into unconsciousness, waking to find himself….where?

"What does he mean?" a voice hissed from the darkness around him. He squinted in a futile effort to make out the speaker who was standing behind the light being shined on him.

_Oh, great, _he thought, _not the old mysterious-voice-behind-the-light torture scene._ _Been there, done that – too many times._

"Could someone at least fetch me some water before telling me what the hell this is all about?" He demanded, anger rising as he carefully pushed himself upright against the wall.

"We're the ones asking the questions stranger, not you." A much sterner, and familiar voice spoke up.

"Vess. Good to hear you're still around – we've been looking for you." Tom pushed himself upright, leaning against the wall behind him. Apparently he'd been captured by the wrong team this time. The terrorists had found a way to use the security office's little tracking device for their own benefit – to capture him.

He received a Kyattan hiss in reply before the _hass_ spoke again. "We're not here for your so-called wit. We're here to make you an offer."

"Let me guess, one I can't ref-" Tom's sentence was cut off as Vess quickly stepped forward, slamming a Kyattan shock prod into his midsection. The human bent over as the air was forced from his lungs, sliding back down the wall as the electric shock numbed his muscles.

"We need your help to deliver a package to the peace conference aboard the Federation starship."

"And what if I say no." Tom managed to gasp after a few moments. They must be crazy if they thought he was going to take a bomb, or even worse, some kind of biological weapon, aboard the Titan. Not that it was borne from concern for any of the Starfleet personnel; rather that he would not betray his Kyattan employers.

"We thought you might feel that way." Vess gestured and the bright light dimmed and more normal light levels were restored to what appeared to be a cellar of some sort. Kassuq quickly studied the outlay of the room, as well as the two other occupants besides Vess. The first walked over to Vess, a large _yall,_ of unusually stocky form for the race, with muscles that had 'goon' written all over them as he handed a large data pad over. The identity of the second Kyattan remained a mystery, the figure hidden and the face obscured by a long dark cloak.

"Here, recognize her?" Vess shoved the data pad under Kassuq's nose.

It took Tom a moment to identify the female Kyattan as Neyall, leading a security detail through a busy section of town. The angle of the live image indicated that whoever had his recorder trained on her was located in a building overlooking the street. Vess leaned over, tapping a control that overlaid what Tom could only suppose was a targeting circle over Neyall's figure.

"One word from me, and Neyall's pretty little head will be splattered all over the sidewalk." Vess announced with obvious glee.

Tom lifted his eyes to study Vess's face, seeing the greedy anticipation in his eyes.

"Go for it."

"What?" Vess's face twisted in surprise.

"Go ahead. Kill her. Doesn't matter to me." Tom shrugged.

This seemed to upset Vess's little intellectual applecart. He glared at Kassuq, trying to see if the off-worlder was playing him. Surely he wasn't serious – Kassuq and Neyall had been intimate since a few weeks after his arrival, and according to Vess's sources, still were.

"Just because we had a pleasant little bedroom arrangement, don't make the mistake of thinking I care for her. Or anyone else on this planet." Tom sneered at Vess, enjoying watching the man squirm.

"Vess!" A hoarse whisper from the cloaked figure and a beckoning hand drew the spitting mad Vess away from Kassuq. A whispered conversation followed, the identity of the cloaked figure still indiscernible. What did worry him was that Vess's angry glare turned to one of glee. Whoever the cloaked figure was, he was obviously calling the shots around here.

Vess left the room for a few moments, returning with something resembling a Kyattan medical scanner, similar to a Federation tricorder, and a hypospray. He slipped past the mysterious overseer, and strode towards Kassuq with an evil sneer.

"As you're no doubt aware by this time, your tracking device also contains a little drug kit. Three doses in fact, usually all filled with a compound able to render a person unconscious in a few heartbeats. Since we wish to keep your little meeting with us a secret, we've already refilled your second dosage with the same knockout drug it was filled with previously. However, the third one we've replaced with something, shall we say, a little more potent?" Vess grinned evilly. "It is our esteemed leader's opinion," Vess nodded at the cloaked figure, "that although you may not value anyone else's life, you most assuredly value your own."

Tom gritted his teeth. The cloaked figure was definitely the brains of the operation. This was after all just a job; Tom wasn't prepared to offer his life up for something he didn't believe in and was merely being paid to do. Oh sure he had work ethics, but they looked rather pale when held up next to a threat to your only life.

"A little taste perhaps, to show you we are 'deadly' serious?" Vess typed a few commands on the medical recorder, followed by the tiniest chill sensation in Tom's neck. Paralysis quickly spread through his muscles, followed by a gut-wrenching pain as his heart felt like it was about to explode out of his chest. He grunted and clenched his teeth, unwilling to give Vess the satisfaction of seeing how much pain he was in.

"Enough!" The hoarse voice spoke again and Vess pushed a hypospray against Kassuq's chest. The pain eased almost immediately, but his heart was still pounding as he weakly rolled on to his side to look at Vess.

"That was only a microscopic amount of the contents of the third dose. Imagine how much fun you'll have with the full dosage delivered into your system."

Tom glared at the cloaked figure, wishing he could throttle him, Vess, and the rest of the bloody inhabitants of this planet who seemed to be intent on playing torturous games with him.

"We'll leave you to think about it, but don't take too long. If you don't agree, we'll simply kill you off in any way and move on to our next plan." Vess gave a harsh laugh before he strode off, the trio of _hass_ leaving Tom in a pitiful sprawl, quietly cursing his own existence.

* * *

"Where were you!" Neyall's voice hissed out of the darkness as Tom stumbled into his apartment just before dawn, shoved roughly inside by his 'escort'. His stomach still felt bruised from where Heiss had hit him, as well as a few other reminders of where he'd spent his evening. The two security guards that had 'found' him in a nearby drinking establishment was working with the terrorists – Kassuq was shocked to learn how deeply infiltrated the Kyattan security force was. And the presence of a _yall_ during his little chat with Vess showed that he couldn't discern friend from foe based merely on race either – the conspirators were composed of _hass_ and _yall_ members.

"Oh, here and there – mostly there," he replied glibly as she strode towards him, a furious expression on her face. Did her anger imply that she was not involved with the terrorists or was she merely an extremely good actress, he wondered. Whichever, he wasn't willing to risk his life to find out. He'd just have to handle this on his own.

Instead of answering him right away, Neyall glared at him as she activated her communication device. "Tell Heiss we found him, in one piece. We're on our way in." She closed the frequency before turning to the guards that had dragged him home, obviously unaware of their double allegiance

"Well done gentlemen. Heiss might just let all of us breathe another day." She turned to Tom next. "You've got some explaining to do mister." Neyall didn't know whether to be furious that Tom had escaped their surveillance or that he was still alive. She'd feared that between Heiss's distrust of the off-worlder and the terrorists, someone had decided that he had outlived his usefulness. "Where in the seven hells were you last night?"

"Out. With some buddies." Tom replied tersely. He couldn't tell her the truth – before they'd released him to do their dirty work, Vess and his fellow terrorists had presented ample evidence that they could track him, and would kill him, if so much as a word of their plan slipped out.

"Get changed, you smell like a brewery," Neyall wrinkled her nose at him, gesturing towards the bathroom. "And leave the door open – you're not leaving my sight from now on."

"Aw, didn't know you still cared Neyall," Tom's quip contained no humour.

* * *

The rest of the morning passed in a blur as Tom was grilled by Heiss as to his whereabouts the previous night. Tom stubbornly stuck to his story as if his life depended on it – which it did. He'd been told to relate some vague tale about cobbling together a personal electronic shielding device, similar to that used as security measure in the government buildings during the recent banquet. Tom did indeed have enough technical knowledge to construct something of the sort, and the guards who had 'found' him presented some mashed electronics as evidence. The terrorists had obviously planned his kidnapping and excuse very well, which did not bode well for his chances to foil them.

He was also thoroughly checked out by the medical unit to make sure his tracking device was still functioning, as well as the two remaining knockout doses. Thomas wondered if one of the medical technicians were in league with the terrorists, somehow concealing the fact that his last dose contained something a bit more lethal than it was supposed to.

And then fate dealt him a card that might just save his ass, not to mention the Kyattan peace conference.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 8_

"What?" Heiss barked as his door signalled for his attention.

"It's nearly time for our final inspection of the conference facilities aboard the Titan, sir," Neyall entered, data pad in hand.

"Oh. Of course. Come in Neyall, have a seat." Heiss pushed himself back from the documents he'd been studying, not that he'd flipped a page in the last hour or so. His mind had instead been running through the events of the last few days, and months, trying to make sense of everything and perhaps spotting a clue he'd somehow missed previously. The whole matter of Kassuq's disappearance for most of last night still bothered him. Was the off-worlder telling the truth? And why would he go through the elaborate scheme of building a device to mask his location and then spend that time in an alehouse? If he really wanted to escape he would've headed off in the earliest transport away from Kyattan. Or was this some insane way of trying to prove his innocence – showing that he had the means to leave them, but chose not to. To do what? Fulfil his contract – and what if that contract was with the terrorists. Not that Heiss had any evidence to support that nagging suspicion.

Sighing he gave Neyall a tired smile. "I'll be glad when this is all over. Perhaps I should think of retiring."

"You, sir?" Neyall gave a small smile. "This place would fall down without you, sir,"

"Ah, humouring an old veteran are you?" Heiss chuckled. "Truth is, I feel like I'm chasing my own tail here. If it weren't for that starship showing up when they did, I'm not sure we'd have any kind of peace conference to look forward to. Perhaps there is something to be said for Fate's blessings."

Neyall nodded mutely. As far as experience had taught her, Fate was not to be trusted. Ever. One should rather focus on making one's own destiny.

"Was there something in particular before we go?" Heiss asked, seeing his second still focused on her data pad.

"Yes, sir. A communication from the starship arrived a few moments ago."

"I didn't receive any notification," Heiss frowned.

"No, sir. It was a personal call for Kassuq. It was the diplomatic officer again, asking to meet with him in private onboard the vessel. Unlike the previous requests, this time he consented."

"What's changed?" Heiss pounced on the fact.

"Not sure sir. Perhaps she finally wore him down with her perseverance."

"Neyall, you and I both know better than that. Kassuq is stone cold on the inside – I don't think any female, no matter how charming, can persuade that man to do something he doesn't want to."

"That's what I thought as well sir. Problem is, he's scheduled to go with us on the visit this afternoon, and he's confirmed his meeting with her for afterwards."

Heiss grunted as he considered his options. He could refuse to let Kassuq join them, but then he would have to offer a convincing excuse to the starship. And from his encounters with the diplomatic officer – he knew she'd spot his lie a mile away – damned empathic alien.

Or he could allow Kassuq to go with, but how under the blessed moons was he going to keep an ear on what they discussed. One thing was sure, he didn't trust Kassuq further than he could throw him, and his arm wasn't what it used to be.

"Well, we can't stop him. But plant a nano-bug on him, at least we can listen in as they reminisce."

"And hope the Titan's technology doesn't spot it," Neyall agreed. Their decision unknowingly played right into the hands of the anxious conspirators, also eager to make sure Kassuq didn't slip information of their scheme to the Federation ship.

* * *

Deanna smoothed the slight frown from her forehead before she entered the transporter room to greet the Kyattan inspection group. Tom had surprised her by accepting her invitation to chat, and she wondered what had suddenly brought on his change of heart.

Christine and Ranul Keru were already waiting, discussing some last minute arrangements before their guests arrived.

Taking a deep breath, Deanna focused on the task at hand – she could ask Tom later.

Heiss, Neyall, Tom and two other security officials arrived a few moments later, and Deanna scanned the group, sensing a heightened emotional state in general, although it was nearly lost amidst the usual impression she'd come to recognise as the Kyattan norm. She focused on Tom, using the similarity of the 'feel' between him and Will to strengthen her touch. She ran into a mental brick wall though, sensing nothing but tight control from him. Smiling, she stepped forward to greet the group.

* * *

Ranul and Christine were comparing their checklist with the Kyattan security delegation's when Deanna though she heard someone calling her name.

She glanced around, surprised to find no-one signalling for her attention. The whole group was focused on the data being projected on the observation lounge's computer display.

_Deanna_. The voice was a bit clearer now, more focused, and in her mind. The feel was familiar, and she automatically reached out to Will, only to find him pre-occupied with some technical detail to do with the warp-drive diagnostic they were currently running.

Could it be Tom?

She turned to look at him, only to find him staring intently at the viewer.

_Don't look at me! _

Deanna's gaze flew back to the view screen, although she had lost track of the discussion around her. It was definitely Tom, and she sensed a combination of relief and anxiety from him now.

_Lost ... my touch. _He breathed a mental sigh of relief. After she'd literally blocked him since their disastrous meeting on Betazed, he'd been afraid she wouldn't even acknowledge him. _Please…_

Troi frowned, struggling to follow his message. Her link with Will had grown so much in the past few years, becoming stronger and clearer with time. Trying to hear Tom was difficult, his sending weak and out of practice. Shutting out as much of the external input as possible, she reached out to him, only to be interrupted by someone addressing her vocally.

"Well, that takes care of all my concerns. My thanks again to you and your ship, Commander," Heiss bowed, addressing Troi.

"It is our pleasure to assist, _Marrell_." Deanna clenched her fists as she was forced to break contact with Thom. The meeting quickly wound down after that, and Troi had to resign herself to the fact that she'd have to wait until the others had left, and hope Tom kept his 'appointment' with her so she could find out more.

But life had other plans, and as they made preparations to finish off Heiss's communication device emitted an urgent signal for attention.

Deanna was unable to hear what was being said, but Heiss's face took on a very intense look. "My apologies counsellor, but it seems we have to make haste down to the planet. We may just have had a breakthrough with regards to the terrorist attacks in the city."

The Kyattan security delegation rose, Tom striding forward to speak with Heiss.

"Sir, if possible I'd like to remain onboard a while longer. I have a previous appointment with Counsellor Troi." Tom kept his voice neutral, belying the flash of panic as he realized his chance to derail the plans for tomorrow's attack was slipping away.

"A private matter I assume?" Heiss waited for Kassuq's nod before continuing. "I'm afraid the matter down on the planet is more urgent, and I require your presence there.

"Yes, sir," Tom nodded. There was no way he could legitimately require to stay behind without drawing undue attention. Tom returned to his chair to retrieve the data pads he'd brought along.

As they made their way down to the transporter room, Troi was drawn into a conversation with Christine and Neyall, effectively preventing her from seeking out the link with Tom again.

_Later_, was all he was able to send before the beams took effect.

"Commander Troi," her combadge signalled as Troi reluctantly pulled her thoughts back to the present.

"Troi here," she replied.

"Lt Hutchinson here, ma'am." Troi recognized the voice of one of the Titan's security guards who'd been present at the Kyattan meeting. "I'm in the conference room we just used, and I found one of the Kyattan's data pads on a chair here. I was about to return it when I saw your name on the display, as if it's addressed to you."

"On my way," Deanna turned on her heel and rushed back to the room she'd so recently left.

Lt Hutchinson was waiting for her, the data pad in her hand. "I came back in to download the additional notes from the meeting, and found this." She held out the data pad to Troi.

Deanna took it, wondering whether this was Thomas' doing, part of his desperate attempt to contact her. Accessing the pad's information, she found a text file with a short message:

_Need help._ Troi's eyebrows raised in surprise; how deep in trouble was Tom to risk approaching her, or anyone, for help.. _Kyattan terrorists - sabotage conference – using me to smuggle something aboard._

Why tell me this way Troi wondered before her eyes found the explanation in his next sentence.

_Monitoring every move, every word. No-_

The message ended abruptly, leaving Troi with more questions than answers.

* * *

Deanna joined Vale and Keru as they met with the captain after the Kyattan's abrupt departure.

"Everything is in place for the start of the conference tomorrow." Christine reported. "_Marrell_ Heiss had a few reservations about one or two seating arrangements, but that was about the worst of it." A smile crept over her face. It felt good to be involved in something as constructive as a peace conference, and she genuinely liked the Kyattans.

"They've also requested to have some of their own data recording equipment to be brought aboard. I've assured them that the Titan is able to record every word and image, but they felt strongly about assuming that responsibility for themselves." Keru continued

"I don't blame them," Riker smiled. "We're providing a safe place for the conference to take place, succeeding where their security staff failed. It might just be a point of pride, but let's concede it anyway." He turned to face his wife who appeared preoccupied with her thoughts.

"Counsellor?" He had actually been surprised to see her arrive with Christine and Ranul, having expected her to be meeting with Tom at this stage. A part of him was glad that his twin had once again lived up to his expectations and avoided the meeting.

"Tom had some rather disturbing news regarding the conference." She replied.

"Really?" Christine raised an eyebrow in Ranul's direction, receiving a shrug that indicated he knew nothing about the matter either. "Neither _Marrell_ Heiss nor any of his staff gave such indication."

"I don't think they're aware of it, and for some reason Thomas won't, or can't, tell them."

"Enough with the riddles counsellor, spill it." Riker also leaned forward, dread forming in the pit of his stomach.

"During our meeting this morning Tom contacted me through our mental link." Troi paused, looking at her audience to see if they required more explanation with regards to the non-verbal link she shared with her husband, and per implication with Tom. Riker's frown in particular spoke eloquently of his feelings towards Tom' choice of communication.

"He had no other choice, as he's convinced a group of terrorists are monitoring his every word and move." Troi handed over the data pad she'd brought with, handing it to Riker who quickly scanned it before handing it across to Vale. "He tried to tell me more in this message, but he ran out of time. Somehow they're forcing him to work for them, to bring something onboard that could end the conference before it'd even started."

A tense few moments of silence followed as everyone digested these facts.

"And you trust him?" Riker tried not to let his own opinion colour his voice.

"Yes." Troi nodded. "It took great effort for him to contact me that way, and I felt his desperation, his fear." Troi focused her dark eyes on her husband, its depths filled with a mixture of compassion and sorrow.

Riker studied her, his blue eyes meeting hers as he considered the situation. He trusted his wife's opinion more than most so-called solid facts, but that didn't mean that he had to like it.

Christine distrusted Tom, but if he was anything like her captain in strength and cunning, and _he_ was desperate….it did not bode well at all.

"Did he give no other clue as to what he is being forced to do? It's a bit hard to plan for every eventuality when you have no details." Keru spoke up, uncomfortable with the subject at hand.

"Only that it was something he was expected to bring onboard tomorrow."

"On his person?" Keru asked. "Although; he is placed highly enough to facilitate someone else coming onboard. Perhaps even a courier of some sort." He answered his own question.

"That could mean anything from a concealed weapon to components for an explosive device," Christine sighed, angrily glaring at the table top.

"Is there a chance that this is all a ruse? If you'll excuse me for saying so, sir, he doesn't appear to be the most trustworthy person around. Even considering the counsellor's faith in him." Ranul Keru hoped he wasn't stepping on too many toes with that statement. From his research, and his experience concerning Thomas, this was one shady character indeed.

"No, Thomas believed that the conference truly was under threat."

"That might be what he believes counsellor, but how are we to know that whoever has a hold on him is telling him the truth?" Christine nodded, seeing Keru's point.

"We don't. But we can't afford to take the chance either. Best we can do is inform Kyattan security-"

"No." Troi interrupted her captain. "If Thomas knew who could be trusted, he would've informed the appropriate people of this new plot."

"You're dealing with supposition here counsellor, not fact," Riker pointed out icily.

_That's enough for me where lives are concerned. Even his._ She replied as coldly before continuing out loud. "Yes, sir, I have considered that. But we don't know who or how many Kyattans are involved, or in what regard. Perhaps there are hostages being held, innocents threatened." Troi shrugged.

"Which leaves us where?" Christine asked when the counsellor finished.

"On our own." Riker stated flatly, decidedly unhappy with the current state of matters. "We can either cancel the onboard conference – for whatever reason we prefer to state – or continue and hope we can foil whatever scheme the terrorists have hatched."

"Can we afford to take that risk?" Keru asked, referring to the latter option.

"Can we afford not to?" Christine answered. "Cancelling this conference will set the Kyattan peace process back significantly. Perhaps even providing the terrorists time to completely overthrow the government and push the planet into chaos."

The conversation paused as everyone considered the implications of both options.

"You've got to get more information from Tom." Riker said after taking a deep breath. "There are simply too many unknowns at this stage for us to make a decision either way."

"Agreed." Vale added, Keru nodding in the background.

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee that Tom will be allowed to return to the Titan. I may have to beam down." Deanna spoke, feeling her husband's resentment of the idea, and simultaneous recognition that it might be the only way to clarify the situation.

"Whatever it takes, counsellor," Riker's eyes were icy.

* * *

"I'm sorry esteemed counsellor, but Kassuq is unavailable at this stage," the friendly but unhelpful security officer responded to her latest query.

Ever since the discussion in the captain's ready room she'd unsuccessfully been trying to get hold of Tom to arrange a meeting. It was early evening already, and time was running out – without more information or proof either way, the following day's peace conference was truly threatened.

"I could take a message if you wish," the security officer offered.

"No thank you, it's with regards to a personal family matter," Troi replied, her diplomatic smile firmly in place. "I'll try again later." She signed off, pursing her lips in frustration.

A brief message from Heiss to the starship a few hours ago had mentioned little else other than the fact that they had apprehended a suspected terrorist. A person who they hoped would reveal his fellow conspirators and help put an end to the threats and attacks. Troi could only assume that Tom was with Heiss and Neyall, hopefully close to finding an answer of some sort.

* * *

"What about Kassuq – what's his role in all of this?" Heiss glared at Vess across the table separating them in the interrogation room. A Kyattan personal rights observer sat quietly to one side, making an occasional note on her data pad. Her mandate was to ensure that Vess was not abused in any sense.

"The off-worlder?" Vess's lip curled in derision. "Why would we involve someone like him? He doesn't even belong here, and we don't need him. The Kyattan Equality Movement can, and will, achieve its goals without any off-world interference. In fact, we don't need _any_ off-worlders, ever."

"How? I need details Vess!"

"Of what? Our goals – I'd be happy to provide you with our information brochures," Vess replied with a self-satisfied smirk.

Heiss glared at Vess, wishing he could wring the truth out of him. Even his admission regarding Kassuq's involvement was one of the admittedly few Vess had made so far. Nothing Vess had said so far did anything to help to clarify matters in any way; and whether any admissions could be trusted, Heiss wasn't too sure either. But denying Kassuq's involvement did have a ring of truth to it – the KEM's did pride themselves on Kyattan accomplishments and progress, and nowhere in their past activities had Heiss been able to find traces of involvement of off-worlders. Even the freighters who had been attacked by the KEM's had carried mixed crews of Kyattan origin and allies of nearby star systems.

When the message had come through that Vess had been apprehended, his hope had soared. But the past few hours with the recalcitrant suspect had provided him with nothing. In the old days, he may have had more success with wrestling a confession out through drugs or physical 'encouragement' – but these days the personal rights groups prevented any such interrogations. In fact, since a few years ago it had become mandatory for such an observer to be present at most interviews, although Heiss felt it ended up protecting the suspect's rights more than the seekers after justice.

Realizing that this was getting him nowhere, Heiss bit down on his fury and walked out of the interrogation room. When he'd closed door behind him he swore quietly for a few seconds as he fought to control his frustration. It didn't seem to help very much though, and Heiss took a deep breath before entering the adjoining room. Neyall and Kassuq were there, having observed the interrogation through a one-way window looking into the room where Hess slouched nonchalantly in a chair.

"I swear if I didn't need any information from him I'd challenge him to _Assra_ right there and then – Kyattan rights observer be damned." Heiss sneered.

Neyall gave a humourless smile, her own hands itching to get a piece of Vess and his smug attitude. Kassuq nodded quietly, whether in agreement with the statement or the sentiment was unclear. Tom's hope had flickered briefly when he'd heard that it was Vess who had been apprehended. Perhaps they could unmask the terrorists without resorting to his desperate ploy to seek help from the Titan. But those same hopes had dwindled as time passed and no breakthrough was forthcoming.

"We'll give Vess some time to relax before we start again." Glancing at the chronometer displayed above the window, Heiss stood up straighter, unwilling to admit defeat.

"The KEM members feel very strongly about off-worlders," Kassuq mused, his thoughts returning to the path his investigation had taken before the banquet fiasco.

"Yes. It's been one of their propaganda points for a while; but whether that's just an image they want to portray to the 'loyal' Kyattans, we're not sure." Neyall responded.

_Obviously. Otherwise you would've trusted me_, Tom thought. "If it's true, it could explain why the attacks on the freighters were so severe compared to that planet side. The freighters' crews were mixed – comprising of Kyattans and other 'off-worlders'. Maybe they somehow felt that those Kyattan lives weren't worth sparing."

"Could be. Which does not bode well for tomorrow's conference." Heiss took a deep breath, as if bracing himself. "Let's go upstairs and run through our plan for tomorrow. Besides, I have to report to the _Prorr _on our progress…or lack of it."

"Any chance he'll cancel tomorrow's conference? Or at least postpone it?" Neyall asked the question that was burning in Tom's mind.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. If he doesn't, it's our job to see nothing happens to disrupt it." Heiss stated.

Easier said than done, Tom thought, grimacing inwardly.

* * *

It was just before midnight when Tom finally left the security offices. Heiss had finally admitted defeat with regards to Vess' questioning, and sent his troops home for a brief respite before tomorrow's conference. They would be up again early, going over all the arrangements and making sure they hadn't missed anything.

"Can I give you a lift home?" A voice issued from a ground car that had pulled up next to him.

"No thanks, I'd prefer to walk," Tom recognized one of the junior security officers named Farr.

"No, really, I insist," the _hass_ reached as if to scratch the back of his neck, but instead tapped it in a significant way as he gave Tom a very pointed smile.

"If you put it that way, how can I refuse," Tom replied, his polite tone of voice belying the ironic truth behind it. He slid into the offered front seat, uncomfortably aware of a second Kyattan in the back. No doubt an extra set of eyes or hands should Tom become uncooperative.

"Come now, we thought you'd appreciate some kindness from your friends." Farr sealed the door and the vehicle pulled away.

Tom wondered if he should be worried that they hadn't rendered him unconscious, or at least blindfolded him. Did they care so little if their identities became known to him? Or was he just not expected to live long enough to identify them. Either thought was deeply troubling.

The next moment his body twitched as a shock prod discharge coursed through him.

"What the hell was that for!" he breathed hard through clenched teeth. The shock was extremely unpleasant, but not enough to render him unconscious.

"Nothing personal, just to ensure you weren't carrying any unwanted bugs." Farr shrugged, "Or if you were, they're fried now."

They drove in silence, surprisingly enough in the direction of his apartment, and pulled up at the street entrance a few minutes later.

"Well, there you go. Have a good evening," the driver smiled, or at least his lips were curled and his teeth exposed.

Tom frowned, not willing to believe that they would simply drive him here and set him free. He wasn't about to ask any questions though, and stepped out of the vehicle, only to turn around as he heard his name being called.

"Thomas? Thomas Kyleson? Is that you?" A female voice called out in cheerful astonishment. A Kyattan woman waved at him from a few meters away.

He didn't recognize her, but she did call him by one of the names he'd been using ever since his escape to the Beta quadrant.

"You don't remember me, do you? I'm surprised at that; I definitely remember you…and our last night together on Mikon," her voice dropped suggestively as drew nearer.

"I suggest you invite the lady up for a drink Kassuq," the driver of the vehicle spoke through the still open passenger door. His tone of voice inferred that it was anything but a suggestion, and Tom's suspicions regarding the female rose another level. The driver caught his eye and again tapped the back of his neck, confirming Thomas' suspicions.

"Ah, now I remember. You'll excuse my lapse in memory – my thoughts are a bit preoccupied with work at this stage." Tom answered smoothly, forcing a polite smile.

"Well, I still go by the name of Rushya, and I'd love to get reacquainted again. I just took an apartment in this building, our freighter is in for a 3 month overhaul and I'll be on-planet for a while setting up some trade connections. Why don't you join me for a drink and we'll catch up on old times, and new ones." The woman smiled in a charming way as she hooked her arm through Tom's unresisting one.

"Why don't we," still smiling, he led her into the apartment building.

The driver of the ground vehicle watched them enter the building before closing the door. His job for this part of the operation was now complete – it was up to the female who'd introduced herself as Rushya to carry on now.

"That wasn't too difficult," the Kyattan who'd been seated behind Kassuq spoke up.

"Be grateful it was this easy – from what I saw at the banquet, he's one mean fighter." Farr replied. "Now let's just hope we can pull this off." Preferably he would've liked to see Kassuq locked in a deep cellar somewhere until it was time to leave for the starship tomorrow, but they couldn't afford to block the off-worlder's tracking device and arouse suspicion so close to the conference. Silence fell again as the car pulled away – they had their own preparations to take care of before the off-worlder was released tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 9_

"Wake up lover, it's time for you to go to work."

Riker reluctantly surfaced from a very pleasant dream he'd been having. He blindly reached out for the warm female voice who spoke from somewhere close to him on the bed. He stiffened as instead of smooth skin he encountered downy fur.

Tom's eyes flew open, finding himself looking into the slit pupils of a Kyattan. He blinked in confused fashion for a few heartbeats as memory of the previous night surfaced.

Rushya, or whoever she really was, had invited him up to her new apartment. He'd had very little choice in the matter, and had accepted as gracefully as possibly. As they'd made their way upstairs his mind had raced, evaluating and discarding plans to escape from the terrorists' grip.

Events hadn't played along though, and the moment the doors had slid shut behind him, he'd felt the kiss of a hypospray before slipping into oblivion.

"Fair day to you, lover, but you can't stay in bed forever." She purred.

Tom rolled away, yanking the covers with him as he realized he was naked under the sheets.

"No need to be shy, at least not from what I've seen. Your clothes are over there," the Kyattan woman gestured as she laughed, pushing her fully clothed body upright from where she'd crouched on the bed to wake Kassuq.

Defiantly clutching the sheets around his body Tom strode off to the indicated location, grabbing his clothes and heading for the washroom. So much for his escape before the conference, he thought as he located his chronometer. He had barely enough time to shower and get dressed before he had to meet with the rest of the delegation at the security offices.

* * *

"Wake up love, it's time to go to work."

Riker reluctantly surfaced from a very pleasant dream he'd been having. Opening his eyes he smiled as he regarded his wife who was leaning over him.

"What if I don't feel like it," he spoke softly, a teasing hint in his eyes. "Let's forget this whole conference thing and just spend the day in bed."

Deanna just laughed softly, reaching out to tuck back a tuft of his sleep-ruffled hair. "Now what kind of an example is that for the captain to set?"

"A selfish one. I know, I know." Groaning Riker pushed himself up, loathe to leave the peaceful sanctity of their apartment. But, there was a world out there to be faced.

Riker paid a brief visit to the bridge, glad to see all operations running smoothly. Not that he expected less from such a fine crew, but it provided him with a positive outlook for the rest of the day, especially considering that they might be dealing with another potential attack, and this time it might be onboard his ship.

He had just settled into his chair in his ready room when the door signalled and Cdr Vale entered.

"Ready to take a last look at things before the start of the conference," Christine stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her stance a bit more formal than usually, an indication that she also appreciated the importance of today's events. "Any news from Kassuq yet?" Christine preferred to use the name Tom had chosen to use, it helped her to mentally distance him from her captain.

"Not yet – Deanna is still trying, but he is either not in or simply unavailable. I wish I could dismiss his claims out of hand, but we can't take that chance."

"Agreed, sir. The extra security measures we discussed yesterday are in place: the transporters are set to scan for anything from possible explosive materials to suspicious biological matter, the conference room itself has been fitted with instruments to detect any anomalous gaseous compounds, and we have extra security personnel who will be on standby just outside." Christine highlighted some of the items they'd discussed yesterday. "It's a bit of a task to expect us to prepare for the unknown, but we've done our best."

"Well, let's go see if all the pillows are fluffed and the pencils sharpened," Riker flashed her a quick smile.

* * *

Tom anxiously clutched his data pad, eyes roving over the collection of equipment awaiting beam-up to the Titan. He was frustrated and angry, and unable to see a way out of this mess. The woman called Rushya had walked him down stairs, and right to the ground car containing Farr and his associate from the previous evening. It was a different ground car though, one of the larger models, and equipment boxes could be seen stacked in the back. They'd once again insisted, graciously of course, that they give Thomas a lift back to the office.

They'd pulled into the underground parking lot of the security offices a few minutes later, Farr turning to Thomas before unlocking the doors.

"These packages contain the recording equipment that has to go up to the starship. Make sure it does," was his terse instructions. After they'd exited the vehicle, Farr and his associate had assumed the subordinate roles again, carting the equipment upstairs to the transporter room.

And now Tom was waiting for the Titan's acknowledgement to beam that particular batch of equipment onto the ship. He'd opened some of the boxes, but as far as he could tell they contained exactly what they should – equipment to record the proceedings of the conference. Was whatever they were trying to smuggle onboard hidden inside the equipment? Or perhaps even somehow incorporated into the containers? And how the hell did he derail their plans without getting himself killed. Things were looking bleak; his last hope lay in contacting Deanna as soon as he stepped onboard.

"Ready?" Neyall asked as she entered the transporter room, her voice all business. She ran her eyes over the assembled group of people and equipment, wondering if it was just her imagination that Kassuq looked really nervous. She already knew about his liaison last night and speculated if that was why he was anxious. She'd been upset when she saw the report, but had taken it as further proof that whatever had been between them was nothing more than a casual encounter. It made it easier to justify how they'd used him over the past few weeks.

"Yes, all the equipment is accounted for and checked," Tom answered brusquely.

"Good. I'm just waiting for…ah, here they are," Neyall turned as the door opened behind her, admitting two burly security officers, one of them Farr, incongruously carrying table decorations made of the cheerful _meyasii_ flowers. The _prorii_ will have my tail if I don't get these up right now." She offered by way of explanation.

"The Titan is standing by," the transporter operator announced.

"Well then, let's get this play underway," Neyall announced, attempting to give a cheerful smile.

* * *

Deanna made sure she stayed in the transporter room as the various Kyattan preparation parties arrived, greeting them before handing them over to Titan personnel assigned to escort them to the conference centre and provide assistance as needed. This left her free to intercept their only hope of avoiding potential sabotage of the event – Tom Riker.

The force of his anxiety nearly took her breath away when he finally materialized along with other members of the Kyattan security division and some civilians.

"Welcome aboard," Deanna stepped forward again, her best diplomatic smile on display.

"Thank you," as most senior officer present, Neyall took the lead. "This is the last of the technical staff beaming aboard – we'll be setting up the last of the recording equipment, as well as the table decorations," Neyall gestured toward the _meyasii_ flowers.

"May their symbolism of peace and hope for the future indeed prove to be true today," Deanna nodded. "If you'll follow Lt Sortollo, he will lead the way." Deanna indicated the transporter operator who had stepped away from his console. "Oh, Tom, if you have a moment – I have some personal news…" Deanna trailed off, keeping her fingers crossed that her plan to get Tom alone for a few moments would work. She needed details, and her mental link with him was by no means up to the standard where they could exchange the information she needed.

Neyall hesitated, unwilling to trust Kassuq alone with any of the Titan personnel, but unwilling to step on diplomatic toes by refusing without a solid reason.

"Now is not the best time, counsellor," Tom frowned, playing his disaffected role to the hilt, though the sense of relief Deanna felt from him was almost palpable. Neyall still seemed hesitant, so Deanna played a last desperate card.

"It concerns your father." Deanna stepped closer to Tom, "I'm afraid I have some bad news." Keeping her eyes on Tom, she used her empathic sense to gauge the reaction of the rest of their audience. She sensed a lessening of suspicion, perhaps even sympathy, and most of it from the female Kyattan named Neyall. A small part of her wondered how close they were. There was still hesitation though, and Deanna held her breath as she waited to see if her ploy would work.

"Our sympathies, Kassuq. Please rejoin us in the conference room as soon as possible," Neyall kept her tone of voice neutral as she escorted the rest of the new arrivals outside to follow the transporter operator who would now serve as guide.

"Well played counsellor," Tom regarded her with admiration as the door closed, a victorious smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.

"Unfortunately it's also the truth, but we can talk about that later." Deanna studied him as he shrugged off her explanation.

"Whatever. Right now I'm more concerned about the conference." His casual dismissal of his father once again reminded Deanna of how different the two Rikers were – Will's personal relationship with his father had never been ideal, but in the last few days before Kyle's death, father and son had found some mutual ground. That fact and its repercussions were in stark contrast with Tom's casual dismissal of anything to do with his estranged father.

Both froze as the transporter room doors opened, only to relax as they saw Christine enter. "Hope I haven't missed anything," she gave a terse smile.

Tom acknowledged her presence with a nod before turning to Troi again. "They're using me Deanna, the terrorists, and I have no idea how. They asked me to help them get some recording equipment onboard, but I've scanned it and couldn't find anything," Tom's anger and frustration was evident in his expression and voice. "I've done nothing but consider every angle during the last few days – I don't know how but they're going to do their utmost to make sure this conference fails. These people are willing to do _anything_, including killing innocent bystanders, to see their plans realized."

"Even as far as destroying the Titan?" Vale asked, frowning as she considered his words.

"Definitely. These extremists care nothing for off-worlders, considering any dealings with us as tainted."

"Transporters and internal sensors have been set to scan for any explosives, possible biological entities and half a dozen other possible dangers. So far we haven't detected anything." Christine offered.

"Well, your sensors are wrong," Tom turned to glare at Vale. "Something's already on board.

"Or you are wrong," Christine returned his stare, pulling her slender body up to its full stature.

Tom snorted and turned away, Troi sensing his double frustration at having to ask for help and then having his information doubted.

"What if whatever they plan to use isn't onboard yet?" she ventured.

"Any missiles from planet side or the orbital platforms would be detected and neutralized before they reached the Titan." Christine stated with confidence, folding her arms across her chest.

"What about suicide pilots? Or beaming a destructive device in under the ship's shields?" Tom asked.

"Impossible; they don't have the technology to penetrate our shields. Don't forget, you missed a bit of Starfleet's technological progress during the past few years." Christine couldn't resist the jab – Tom's whole attitude just rubbed her the wrong way.

"Ever heard of overconfidence? Read some history sometime, you might be surprised how many people thought they were invincible, only to be rudely awakened." Tom replied as sharply.

"What other options could we consider?" Troi kept her voice calm, trying to refocus the aim of the discussion that was threatening to degenerate into personal mud slinging.

Tom bit the inside of his cheek, shaking his head.

"Best we can do is stay alert, and react _if_ a situation arises – we've done all the homework we could." Christine kept her voice level and her chin held stubbornly high.

"Do you honestly think they'd go to this much trouble just to discredit me?" Tom asked, turning back to Christine.

"You might look like my captain, but you aren't. And I don't know you, or trust you. All I have is your say-so that a bunch of terrorists might try to interfere with this conference." Vale retaliated.

"We're on the same side here," Troi stepped forward, her voice commanding their attention. "Let's try to keep that in mind too."

"I don't know if we are," Christine replied.

Tom just glared in reply before turning to Troi, "I'd better get back to the Kyattan delegation – I'll keep my eyes open." He turned and stalked outside without sparing Vale a second glance.

"That could've gone better," Christine said by way of apology as she rubbed her forehead.

"Yes, it could have." Troi forced the point home. "But it is a difficult situation. Let's hope that we've done enough to see this conference through peacefully. All we can do now is see how things play out."

* * *

Tom resisted the urge to lash out and strike the bulkhead next to him with his fist. Every time Will Riker showed up, things went to hell. They might be identical genetically, but Will had obviously gotten the lion's share of good luck, leaving him with… what?

He'd tried resuming his career in Starfleet, getting back to the life he'd been force to suspend for eight years, only to find it an impossible task. Too much had changed in the intervening years. Nervala IV had not only denied him the life he was supposed to be leading, but also his only love.

Realizing that he could not just pick up where he left off had been hard enough, but finding that another you were already living that life was even worse. Trying to live in the other Riker's shadow wasn't possible, and he had changed track, trying instead to dedicate his life to helping others. But one setback after the other had driven him to abandon Starfleet and instead throw his lot in with the Maquis – underdogs fighting for those who would otherwise get lost in the system. Instead he had found himself abandoned again, the Maquis left him to stew in a Cardassian prison after a failed attempt to hijack a Starfleet runabout on their behalf. Abandoned and forgotten… nothing more than a somewhat interesting footnote in the history books.

Until he was rescued by Romulans; and then only to be used to sow chaos and destruction on their behalf. After narrowly escaping with his life, Tom had decided that the Alpha Quadrant had one Riker too many, and had set off to find his destiny elsewhere.

The problem was, it seemed that the universe had only so much luck to go around; and Will Riker had it all.

Reaching the passage leading to the conference area, Tom paused, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Storming in there looking like a plasma storm would not help his situation in any way. He'd been a fool to place any hope or trust in the Federation people, or even his Kyattan employers. That'd teach him to stick with what his life had taught him again and again – trust in no one but your self.

Fixing an appropriate smile on his face, he entered the hallway, pleasantly nodding at the Federation and Kyattan security guards stationed at the entrance. Once inside his eyes scanned the location for any suspicious activities – finding none. What if he was wrong? What if this damned conference went ahead and nothing disruptive happened. Would the Kyattan terrorist movement, or whoever had forced him into this situation, go to all this trouble to do nothing? Or were they expecting him to sow chaos on their behalf with his wild accusations and baseless fear-mongering? Was everything he'd been through aimed at discrediting him – and if so, why? His thoughts weaved chaotically, knotting and twisting themselves in various 'what-ifs' until he felt he was drowning in the melee.

Pretending to study his data pad while standing next to a load of recording equipment, Tomas pushed all his thoughts to one side, focusing instead on his instincts. They had served him well in the past, saving his life on more than one occasion.

And what they were telling him at the moment was this: the conference was in danger, and it was up to him to prevent any attack from succeeding. After all, that's what he was being paid to do.

* * *

Trying to move as quietly as possible, Tom shifted uncomfortably in his chair. His back was hurting like hell, the past few hours having dragged past uneventfully as delegate after delegate stood to give his or her opening address. Damned diplomats, he cursed as an abused back-muscle threatened to go into spasm. His temper had also darkened as the time passed – right now he wasn't sure whether he wished for an attack just to afford him the opportunity to move. And of course to prove him right.

He wasn't the only one suffering though – one of the older Kyattan delegates at the main table also shifted uncomfortably, easing one of his legs out while fumbling in his pocket for a handkerchief or something. Tom was glad to see this off-pitch event that somehow made the strictly orchestrated conference seem a little more human. The soft blue glow of the Kyattan-made standing lanterns spaced at regular intervals behind the main group bathed the table, the meyasii flowers, the delegates and their personal effects in a pleasant clean tone of light. At one end of the oval table, Captain Riker sat flanked by Troi and Tuvok, here to facilitate the proceedings but not dictate or overshadow them.

_And for Will, of course, everything ran perfectly_, Tom thought bitterly. He let his eyes rove over the delegation again, senses extended fully to pick up any hint of a threat. Although he did not observe anything that he could classify as a tangible threat, his intuition was maintaining red alert status. Closing his eyes for a moment he rubbed them in an effort to ease the strain, his skin still alert to the movement of air and beings around him, just as his sense of smell was attuned to the sweet aroma of the flowers and his ears the sound of voices, movement and the ever present coughs and throat-clearings associated with meetings of this sort.

Something in that melee caught his attention though – the number of coughs and throat clearings seemed a bit too much for the setting. Tom's eyes flew open as he scrutinized the delegation, finding a lot of Kyattans discreetly coughing into handkerchiefs, rubbing at tearing eyes or reaching for water to ease scratchy throats.

Matters finally came to a head when the elderly gentleman Tom had been observing earlier rose to his feet, clutching at his throat while sounds of laboured breathing filled the room. A number of Kyattans, and a few of the Titan crew members, were showing severe signs of distress, increasing exponentially. Except for a few Kyattan individuals, including Farr(.)

In the background, Captain Riker was calling for emergency medical assistance while Tuvok was hailing security. Deanna had reacted instinctively, reaching out to the closest delegates, trying to ascertain the cause of their distress. All these details clamoured for Tom's attention as he struggled to focus on finding the cause. His eyes darted around, trying to identify the other Kyattan individuals not suffering as severe effects – his eyes settling on _prorii_ Vaill, who was staring fixedly ahead while coughing softly.

Intrigued by what could capture the _prorii's_ attention so fully, Tom followed his line of sight. The table was fairly clear, the odd data pad or stylus littering the surface between liquid refreshments and the meyasii flower arrangements. Dismissing all the Titan furnishings, that left the delegates' individual data pads, the light sources … and the flowers! His mind latched onto the connection between the symptoms and their origin.

"_It's the flowers!_" he yelled as he 'sent' to Deanna as well.

Her head flew up from where she'd been ministering to one of the delegates, turning to Will to see if he'd heard.

The captain hesitated barely a second before hitting his combadge again.

"Captain to transporter room – lock on the flower arrangements in this venue and beam them into a stasis field!"

"Unable to comply – something's preventing a direct lock on the objects," came the steady but tense voice of whoever was manning the transporter station.

"Get these people out of here!" the captain yelled to be heard above the clamour of panicking individuals.

"No time for that," Tom replied under his breath, jumping over the seats immediately in front of him and running towards the table.

Misinterpreting his intentions, some of the Kyattan and Titan security personnel started to move to intercept him. Keeping low and expertly dodging them, Tom launched himself at the table as he called out instructions to Will. "Tell them to lock onto my bio-signature!" As he skidded across the table, Tom spread his arms to gather all the arrangements along the way.

Will nodded, passing terse instructions to the transporter chief, the familiar blue glittering light enveloping Thomas just as he reached the end of the table.

"No!" Vaill rasped in between coughs. "No! You can't!" He sank back into his seat as he saw his whole master scheme dissolving before him. Hearing his outburst, the security personnel who until that moment had been concerned with his well-being turned their attention to retaining him instead.

"I think we just did." Will muttered triumphantly, standing quietly amidst the chaos of medical personnel running triage while security personnel fought to calm the madness.


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter 10_

A very intense couple of days later, the Titan once again welcomed a Kyattan delegation. But this time they had come to discuss the foiled attack on the recent peace conference.

The Kyattan _prorr_ and his staff looked understandably exhausted as he detailed their findings regarding the attempt to permanently derail the Kyattan peace process. Will studied Mrraw as he spoke, noticing the air of sadness and disappointment that seemed to hang over the Kyattan. No wonder, considering that one of his trusted inner circle had turned out to be the leader of the terrorist faction.

Vaill had had no choice but to confess after his apprehension aboard the Titan in the aftermath of the failed attack, damned by his own words and actions. Or rather, reactions, Will thought as he replayed the event in his mind again.

The quick reaction by the Titan's medical and security staff had prevented the calamity that would surely have befallen had Vaill and his fellow conspirators succeeded. And of course, Tom's. Will suppressed a grimace as his eyes flitted to where Tom was seated, grudgingly having to admit that Thomas had played a vital role in foiling the attack.

Scientific analysis had revealed that the meyasii flowers present at the peace conference had been genetically engineered to release pollen containing bio-toxins. Toxins that would remain in stasis, and undetectable, until they were activated by a specific light-frequency. A trigger that was unknowingly provided by the light sources the Kyattans had insisted on using. The Titan's sensors could have scanned until their power sources ran dry, and it would not have found any sign of the toxin in the equipment and furnishings beamed aboard at the Kyattans' insistence.

"-turns out that Vaill had a _hass_ maternal great-grandfather. Such _hass-yall _pairings are very rare of course, and fertile offspring even more so. Such pairings were often outcasts, the children also ostracized. " Mrraw gave a melancholy smile as he continued. "I've always known Vaill was one of the more liberal _yall_, one of the chief reasons I appointed him to his post. But this…" Mrraw shook his head. "It seems he has always carried a deep-seated resentment towards all purebred _yall_, making it his life mission to take revenge for all past injustices visited upon the _hass_ and mixed offspring. While I applaud his sentiment, his methods cannot be justified."

The meeting fell into silence for a few moments as everyone present digested the information.

"However, I am glad to say that he has not succeeded in destroying the peace initiative. This has presented us with numerous setbacks, but we will persist. Perhaps the extra time will work to our advantage, allowing us to convince more _hass _and_ yall_ of our sincerity and dedication."

"I am glad to hear that," Captain Riker spoke when it was evident that Mrraw had finished. "And although we will not be here to witness the culmination of that peace process, I hope that we may be fortunate to see the result first hand one day. To that end, _prorr_ Mrraw, I offer the service of the Titan for a while longer. We would be happy to assist in whichever capacity we may."

"That is good news," Mrraw nodded, pleased at the offer. "Although we would understand if your mission called you away, it will go to immeasurable lengths to allay fears and rumours concerning off-worlder involvement with the terrorists."

"As I said, whatever we can do to assist." Captain Riker smiled.

The meeting continued a while longer as plans were made for the next few days.

* * *

Resisting the urge to stretch, Tom settled instead for a deep breath as the meeting finally broke. He had no patience for diplomatic talk these days, the endless bowing, scraping and professions of thanks got on his nerves. No-one ever really meant what they said.

Besides, sitting there watching what should've been your life staring at you across the table would be unsettling to any person. Looking down at his hands, he suppressed the anger that welled inside him. Here he was, being treated like a valued employee by people who barely a few days ago had been convinced _he_ was in league with the enemy. And after doing more than his share to redeem himself, now they treated him as … what? Although he was once again allowed into their hallowed, inner circle meetings, he still carried the tracking device around under his skin. He hated being used in such a manner, nothing more than a tool.

Chairs were finally pushed back and Tom stood to one side, waiting for the rest of the delegation to head down to the transporter room when Troi intercepted him.

"Actually, if your schedule allows Tom, I'd appreciate it if you could spare me some time. Catch up on old times and the like."

Tom suppressed the urge to groan. Just when he thought he'd survived the lion's den again and could escape down to the planet. What would be the use in any case, the threat to the conference was over. And frankly, none of them had anything left to say.

"We have a busy few days ahead of us Commander. Perhaps some other time?" Shields up, initiating evasive manoeuvres.

"I appreciate that, which is why I thought we could take care of it now. It also concerns the family matter I've mentioned before. I would like to talk to you about (it) – in private." Troi was not taking no for an answer.

"If you insist, commander," Tom smiled, his eyes remaining cold and distant. "If you'll excuse me," he said, turning to his companions. He noted Neyall's curious look, an explanation would no doubt be expected when he saw her next.

"Of course Kassuq," Mrraw nodded, following Captain Riker out of the conference room, Heiss and the rest of the Kyattan delegation in tow.

"This way," Deanna gestured him to follow her down the corridor. "I'm glad you accepted my invitation."

"It didn't seem that I had much of a choice," Tom answered.

"We always have choices. Just not always the ones we like," Deanna answered with a small but genuine smile.

They walked the rest of the way to her office in relative silence, though not from lack of trying from Troi's side.

Tom's eyes darted around as they entered her office, Deanna's personality evident in every aspect; from the tasteful sculptures to the understated artwork mounted on the walls. Her preference for the colour purple was still obvious. In fact, one of the paintings reminded him of a certain 'goopy' artwork he'd once been shown on Betazed.

Pushing that thought away he focused on her. "Why am I really here? And please, no quirky answers." He held up a hand, forestalling any quips from her side.

"I thought we could talk." Deanna sat down, gesturing for her to join him on the comfortably wide couch.

"You know, I'm quite surprised he allows you within 2 parsecs of me without a full contingent of security guards." Tom applied evasive manoeuvres again, defiantly remaining standing.

Troi sighed inwardly. She hadn't expected this to be easy, but she genuinely wanted to smooth things over between Will, herself and Tom. Well, if he wanted to play hardball, so could she.

"Tom, please, for old times sake if nothing else. You have always been dear to me, no matter what happened in the past. And I sense great conflict in you. Talk to me, and if not for any of our sakes, then at least for our mission here." Deanna appealed.

"You think I care about the mission?" Tom gave his trademark humourless grin, one corner of his mouth lifting in mockery. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, counsellor, but I'm only in this for the money. A man's gotta survive out here, y'know. But I'm glad things are looking up for the Kyattans."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Troi hooked her laced fingers over her crossed knee, settling in comfortably on her couch. Her unspoken message was clear, she could hold out as long as he could, and then probably some more.

"Fine! I give. What do you want me to talk about?" Tom gave in and blew out an exasperated sigh, sitting down on the furthest edge of the couch.

Deanna sat up straight again. "What happened to you after Sela?" she asked. "By the time Will and I arrived at Qo'nos, you'd already left. Later we heard rumours that you'd been recaptured by the Cardassians, and then the Dominion War…" Deanna trailed off. "By the end of the war your trail had gone cold and no-one knew what had happened to you."

Thom's eyes narrowed slightly as his thoughts went back to that particular series of disasters in his life. Crossing his arms, he relayed an emotionless account of events.

"After Qo'nos, I ran. Like I always do. Unfortunately the Cardassians caught up with me before I got too far." He paused, blocking any further thoughts in that direction. "During the final stages of the Dominion War, it didn't matter why you'd been captured – the whole system was going down, and taking everyone along with it. At the end of the war, in a gesture of reconciliation, a bunch of prisoners were released… including me. I was free again." No thanks to Starfleet though, he thought privately.

"Why didn't you return to Federation space?" Deanna asked softly.

"Why should I have? The Maquis were a shade of their former selves, and I was under no illusion that I would be welcomed back by Starfleet like a long lost son. Quite the opposite, probably – they might've just tossed me in another jail. So I took my chances and made my way out of the alpha quadrant as fast as possible. I thought at least out here I'd be safer, maybe even really free." Of my past, and of you - he added to himself.

Deanna sensed his resentment, fear and… something else which he suppressed too quickly for her to get a handle on.

"I'm sorry…I didn't know," Deanna's heart went out to Tom. She knew full well how Cardassians treated their prisoners, and even more so if they were Starfleet personnel. Even Captain Picard, who had been their 'guest' for just a few weeks, had spent months in extensive counselling to deal with the results.

"You're sorry? Great, that just makes me feel a whole lot better." He lashed out at her show of sympathy.

"Thomas." She spoke, her hand reaching for his. He kept his arms crossed though, closing himself off physically.

_Thomas,_ she reached out with her mind, feeling for that oh-so-similar link she shared with Will.

His eyes widened, not sure whether it was just his imagination. After his involvement in the incident that nearly killed her mother, drowned her fiancée and ended in her being kidnapped by the Romulans, he never thought he'd hear her in that way again.

_Tom, please. Let me in._

_Why. _His sending was tentative, barely reaching her. She realized once again how much her link with Will had grown in the past few years.

_Because you are still suffering. And I want to help._

"Again, why?" He asked out loud, frowning even though his resolve was melting.

_Because deep inside you are still a prisoner, chained by things that happened. By things that were done to you, that are keeping you from your full potential._

Anger welled in him. He was angry that she could still get under his skin so easily, angry that he allowed her even the tiniest glimpse of what he truly felt. But most of all, anger that she was right.

How dare she? Did she think she could just waltz back into his life, say a few platitudes and everything would be all right? She had no idea, no idea at all.

"You think you know what's going on inside of me? You're wrong. There's no turmoil, no suffering. Only emptiness. Dark, cold, emptiness." He was lying though; he was furious. With every word he moved closer, his intensity frightening. "Or are you interested in what they did to me. A research project maybe? Here. Let me show you."

Troi gasped for breath as the link between them pulsed with dark emotions. Tom's mind was now firmly latched onto the link she'd established, forcefully maintaining contact as he showed her what was inside him. She was only vaguely aware of him leaning towards her, bare inches separating them as he forced images into her mind – images of Cardassians leaning over his body with their wickedly sharp knives, prodding and cutting his flesh into a thousand bleeding pieces, of innocent-looking devices implanted in his body, able to feed mind-numbing pain directly into his nerve receptors, of mind-probes that led him to believe he was watching his closest friends, family, even lovers, being tortured to death before him, that and a multitude of other equally horrible experiences.

Deanna held up her hands in useless defiance as the onslaught continued, her mind finally shutting down in self defence after a small eternity. She collapsed on the couch, falling sideway in a boneless heap.

Tom started backwards, chest heaving as he gasped for air. The anger drained from his features as he realized what he'd done.

"Oh hell. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he apologized weakly, hiding his face in his hands as he dropped to his knees beside her. He took a deep breath, opening his eyes to look at the woman he'd just mentally assaulted. He reached out to touch her cheek, to wipe away the tears that had slid from her eyes, but before he made contact he stopped, pulling his hand back. He'd done enough damage already. He considered waking her, but instead decided to let her be; he had hurt her enough. A part of him wanted to notify Will, to have someone check on her wellbeing. Although, any such communication would be suspect, and if he knew himself, his old self, he would come tearing down ready to kill whoever even looked like they had given Deanna a dark look, never mind driven her into a protective unconscious state. And Tom was not about to stick around for a firsthand account of what Will would do.

Instead he gently repositioned her so that she rested in a more comfortable position, stretched out on the couch. Her breathing was deep and even, her pulse steady; a small comfort to him as he exited her office. What had just happened only served as evidence of his conviction – whatever was inside him was his own to deal with. No-one could help without getting hurt instead.

Again he considered perhaps leaving an automated message for Will to check in on Deanna, but decided against it. Right now he needed all the time he could get.

* * *

Captain Riker found himself staring at the stars outside his ready room, wondering what was going on down in his wife's office. He disliked the idea of Tom being alone with her; and what they might be talking about. Ever since they set off together, he'd been up here, keeping his head down and going over whatever work he could find to keep his thoughts from spiralling endlessly over their meeting. Glancing at the chronometer he was surprised to find that it was already two hours since the Kyattan delegation had beamed back to the planet. Surely Deanna should be finished with Tom by now? Curiosity finally won and he tapped his communicator badge, "Riker to Troi."

Curiosity became worry when she did not respond. Was she still in session with him then?

"Computer, locate commander Troi."

"Commander Troi is in the chief counsellor's office."

"Is she alone?"

"No other life-signs are present at her location."

Riker frowned. Had Troi deactivated her comm badge for some reason? Or was she deep in meditation and had just not heard him. He tried to shrug the matter off but gave up after a few more minutes and made his way to her office.

No-one answered the door hail, but when Riker pressed the open button the doors swished open. His eyes immediately found Deanna sitting upright on her couch, rubbing her temples as in pain.

"Deanna, are you all right?" Will rushed to her side.

"Fine, fine," she gently patted the hand he'd extended to her side.

"No you're not." Will's concern flared into anger. "It was him, wasn't it? I swear if I get my hands on him." He tapped his comm badge, summoning Dr Ree to Deanna's office.

"What did he do to you?" Will asked as sat down next to her, reaching out both physically and mentally, only to have his mental query gently rebuffed.

"Nothing … that I didn't ask for. Oh, Will," she hugged her husband to her, finding solace and strength in his embrace but gently repelling his mental query. "I asked him to let me in, and he did… There's so much hurt inside him. And I couldn't help." Tears welled in her eyes.

Will was once again amazed at his wife. Here she was, obviously traumatized by a painful incident, and she still apologized for not being able to help the person who'd been responsible for her suffering.

"I'm not sure anyone can," Will held her gently, stroking her hair as she cried. "But he should not have hurt you." The fact that she was blocking their contact told him a lot. Whatever Tom had done, Will vowed that he would pay for it; convinced his twin had somehow hurt his wife through their shared mental link.

Dr Ree arrived, clutching his medicine kit in his surprisingly gentle claw-like hands.

"I'm fine, really," Troi mumbled against his Will's chest, not willing to let go of her husband just yet, even though she had stopped crying.

"I know love, but it would make me feel a whole lot better if you let Dr Ree have a look at you and have his word as well." Riker smiled gently.

"All right," Troi levered herself away from his embrace as the doctor ran his medical tricorder over her. "Heightened activity in what is considered the Betazoid 'pathic zones, increased stress hormone levels…a difficult session counsellor?" Ree asked, the saurian attempting to put her at ease.

"You could say that," Deanna didn't smile as she turned to look guiltily at her husband. She didn't feel strong enough to fully open her link with him again, and what she saw in his eyes did not dispel any remaining unease. "Promise me you won't do anything you'll regret later."

"Like what?"

"I know you too well William Riker – leave Tom be." Her voice was firm.

"I can't Deanna, not after this," Will shook his head. He was not about to say more with Dr Ree present. Instead he used the doctor's ministrations as an excuse for leaving Deanna in the saurian's capable care as he strode off to find Tom.

* * *

Tom breathed a sigh of relief as he appeared on the transporter platform in the merchant district of a seedier part of Kyattan's capital.

Tom had prepared for most eventualities, including a quick departure from Kyattan; which was what he was implementing right now. He exited the transporter room, having had the Titan transporter operator beam him here on business, and stepped outside into a shopping area thronged with Kyattan and off-worlders alike. Store windows advertised any type of imaginable merchandise or service, and he quickly made his way to a shop entrance garishly advertising body-art enhancements: anything ranging from piercing to implants.

"Kassuq, what can I do for you friend?" a hairless Oliad was draped over a chair behind what passed for a combination counter/display case.

"I need that package I ordered from you months ago. And I also have something you can get rid of for me," Tom addressed the short, pinkish humanoid.

"Of course; but it will cost you extra." The Oliad greedily rubbed his four-fingered hands together, the long fingers almost wrapping completely over each other.

"Of course," Tom nodded. Shortly after his arrival on Kyattan, he'd made a few enquiries, and spread enough credit chips around to locate the Oliad. Not by name, but rather by reputation – every spaceport or station the galaxy over had someone who could get you almost anything for the right price, including passage off planet.

"Well then, come on," the Oliad hopped off the chair and escorted Thomas into a backroom. "In how much of a hurry are you?" the Oliad referred to Riker's coded request to get him off planet.

"Words can't express my hurry," Riker gave another coded signal.

"Ah, say no more," the Oliad darted into another backroom, returning a few moments later. "It's safe now, say what you want."

"I'm carrying a Kyattan tracking device with chemical agents – I want it out and myself off planet as soon as you can manage. Also, access to a computer terminal linked to Kyattan's network." Thomas cut straight to the heart of the matter.

The Oliad blinked a few times, doing a mental calculation before stating his price. It was high, but Thomas couldn't afford not to pay it.

"Done." Thomas keyed the instructions into a data pad, authorising the transaction.

The Oliad whistled under his breath. "If I didn't know better I'd ask what you did to necessitate this. But I won't. Sit." He gestured towards a couch-like chair.

Straddling the seat, Thomas leaned forward against the couch-back.

The Oliad pulled out an illegally obtained Kyattan scanner, tapping a few commands to deactivate the tracking device and its anti-tampering settings before reaching for a local anaesthetic and a medical scalpel.

"There you go," he spoke after a few minutes, dropping the oblong tracking device in a tray. He quickly sealed the small wound in Thomas' neck. "The best I can do on such short notice is a freighter – it's scheduled to head out of the spaceport in an hour."

"It'll have to do," Thomas answered. With the tracking device now inactive, he had to get away from there as soon as possible. While the Oliad organized his passage onto the freighter, Thomas accessed the security office's network and activated a programme he had hidden within their central computer. A few short commands ensured those files he didn't want found were destroyed.

Shortly after he left the shop through a hidden back entrance, weaving through the heavy pedestrian traffic as he made his way to a merchant's private transporter facility. Once on the orbital facility, he made best speed and made it onto the freighter just before she pulled out of space dock.

* * *

"He's gone," Christine stated with resignation.

Riker nodded, not trusting himself to speak. As soon as he'd left Deanna with Dr Ree, he'd contacted the Kyattan security offices looking for Tom. They had professed ignorance, even though Riker suspected they had been keeping a watch on Kassuq ever since the fiasco at the welcoming banquet.

_Marr _Heiss had contacted him shortly after that, gruffly confessing that Tom had given them the slip. The Kyattan was obviously unhappy about the state of affairs, admitting that his last known location was somewhere in the merchant sector of the local spaceport.

Using the Titan's sensors they'd tried to track him down, but by then his trail was cold. They managed to trace a record of someone matching Tom's description beaming up to the Kyattan space dock, but lost track of him again after his arrival. Several freighters and other vessels had since departed the station, muddying the trail further. As much as the captain might wish to take the Titan on a high-speed chase after those vessels, he still had a responsibility to see through his promise to the Kyattan government.

Will sighed as he realized he had to face the facts.

Thomas Riker had disappeared again.

* * *

The holodeck doors opened with their customary efficiency, and Will Riker stepped through to find himself at the base of a gently sloping hill. He followed a faint track up the hill, weaving between lush trees that dripped with vines and blossoms. The air was quite humid, and water droplets decorated the trees around him, indicating that he'd just missed some rain.

He found Deanna at the top of the hill, perched atop a gigantic tree root that afforded her a fantastic view over the valley below. The forest giant had saved her from most of the rain, but a few drops still clung to her hair and clothes.

She acknowledged his arrival with a tilt of her head, bathing him in one of her peaceful smiles as she extended a hand to him. He took her hand, squeezing it as he sat down beside her. For a few moments they sat together in silence, looking out over the Ylara Jungle spread out before them.

Dark thunderclouds crowded the horizon, feint rumbles and flashes of light forming a stunning backdrop to the brilliant colours of the jungle, evident in both the verdant growth and the birds that flitted through the sky.

"I always forget how beautiful it is," Will took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh-rain smell mingling with the sweet perfume of the flowers.

Deanna nodded, squeezing his hand in acknowledgement rather than saying anything.

Will studied his wife unobtrusively, detecting a few traces of moisture on her cheeks that may not quite be the result of the recently passed rainstorm.

She caught him studying her nonetheless, and released his hand to lean in and rather hold him to her.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly.

"I will be." She replied, looking out over the jungle again.

"I didn't know we had this programme in the computer's memory banks." Riker ventured after another few moments of quiet contemplation.

"We didn't, not until today." Deanna volunteered. "Remember when a dashing young Starfleet officer first encountered the jungle?"

"Among some other forces of nature," Will replied after chuckling.

Deanna also laughed, not sure whether his comment referred to her, her mother, or the Sindareen attack.

"Is that why you chose this setting?" Will prompted again. "Thinking back on how young and foolish some of us were."

"Some of us, perhaps, " she nudged him in the ribs before turning serious again. "I wanted to remind myself that no situation is as hopeless as it might appear. That there is good to be found with the bad, even if it isn't that obvious at first." What Deanna didn't say, was that she also wanted to remind herself that Will and Tom had started out as the same person. Because of that, she _knew _what potential for greatness existed in both of them. The man next to her was exploring that potential to its fullest, as a person, in his career, and as her husband. Of course, it had taken him a while to discover his own way of balancing those aspects. She just hoped Tom could find that balance within himself before it was too late. Despite all his actions, despite everything, she still cared for him.

Deanna felt her husband tense next to her before he replied. "Like Tom?"

"Like Tom."

"Deanna, I honestly don't understand how you can still manage to look for a silver lining where he's concerned. He's proven time and again that he is a self-centred and self-serving ba-…individual, only looking out for number one," he finished lamely.

"That's what you see." Deanna frowned as she contemplated her next words. "What I see is an individual who is struggling to find his place. And don't forget, he stayed until he had finished his commitment to the Kyattans; that tells me that there is still an honourable man inside. And what may appear as self-centeredness may only be his sense of self-preservation. Will, he has suffered greatly in the past, both mentally and physically."

"And of course I know nothing about that," Will scoffed. His thoughts involuntarily went back to his own hellish experiences during the Enterprise-E's mission to Tezwa that resulted in his capture.

Deanna drew away slightly to look into his eyes, keeping a light touch on his arm and thigh.

"That's not what I meant. If I think of how close I came to losing you that time," Deanna fell silent, shaking her head. "But whatever you or I went through, we always found the other one waiting at the end, offering love and support. We were never truly alone. Tom is."

Whatever comment Will had at the ready died on his lips as he considered her last sentence. His own thoughts went back to when a crotchety old man called Will Riker travelled back in time to change reality so that he did not have to live in a universe where Deanna Troi had died.

"That's no excuse Deanna," he stated with more conviction than he truly felt.

"Perhaps not, but perhaps it may help you to see him in a kinder light."

Will bit down the urge to say 'besides a phaser beam?' and shrugged instead, unwilling to comment. Even after all these years he found himself amazed by Deanna; always able to surprise him with her apparently limitless understanding and compassion.

"Have I recently told you how much I love you?" He pulled her closer.

"Not today," she smiled, tilting her head to kiss him. "And don't ever stop."

"I won't." He smiled as they separated. "Well?" he asked after a drawn out silence.

_I love you too Will Riker, _her mindvoice carried with it her love and emotions much more eloquently than any spoken phrase ever could.

_

* * *

Epilogue_

The Dalrian twitched his rodent-like nose as he regarded the strange looking alien sitting opposite him.

"How many of the same looking cards to I have to have before I can place them on the table?" He enquired, squinting at the rectangular bits of marked cards he held in his paws.

"A minimum of three," the alien gazed at him steadily.

"Ah….here," the Dalrian proudly placed three cards on the mess table.

"Nice. But they're supposed to be in numeric order…you have a card missing here," the alien indicated the offending space. Trying to teach these rat-faces a simple game of rummy was turning into a headache. Still, it kept the boredom at bay while the freighter was en-route to its next destination.

"Yaw, this is no fun!" the Dalrian seated to the left of the alien threw down his cards. "It's too much effort to keep counting the little markings."

"I agree. Besides, there is no risk, no gamble." The Dalrian on the alien's right spoke.

"You want to gamble?" The alien's hairless visage perked up.

"Of course! Otherwise, what is the point?" the second Dalrian twitched his nose in agreement.

"Well then." The so-called 'human' smiled, reminding the Dalrians of an ancestral sharp-toothed predator. "I may know just the game you're looking for – it has elements of luck, subterfuge and risk – the perfect gamblers game."

The Dalrians twitched their noses even faster at the exciting thought.

"Tell me. Have you gentlemen heard of a game called poker?" Thomas smiled widely, though its humour didn't quite reach his ice-blue eyes

_The end_

_Notes:_

Kassuq – drifting lump of ice in Eskimo/Inuit/Alaskan

Numerous references to the two Imzadi books, as well as "A time to…" series, Double Helix series and whatever other books / episodes Tom Riker featured in.


End file.
